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". . . Here and there, a whispered word, even 
though uttered without bad intention, has 
many times ruined the good name, the reputa- 
tion and even the life of somebody." 

Edith Cavell. 






Edith Cavell 



hisA. 



WITH EDITH CAVELL 
IN BELGIUM 



BY 

JACQUELINE VAN TIL 



NEW YORK 

H. W. BRIDGES 
1922 



■Il6"50 



©ci 



A1074984 



HAY 28 1323 



FOREWORD 

In giving to the public this simple and appeal- 
ing story written by Miss Van Til, we wish to 
say that the proceeds of its sale are to be devoted 
to the work of the Richmond Memorial Hospital, 
Princess Bay, Staten Island. 

Miss Van Til hopes to found here in this coun- 
try community, located within the limits of the 
World's Greatest City, a training school and home 
for nurses, in memory of Miss Cavell. 

Fortunately for us, our little institution seems 
to have revived in her appealing memories of that 
other ''little Hospital," the ''Clinique," at Nos. 
143-149 "rue de la Culture." 

Certain it is that at least one of her nurses has 
kept the faith so bravely handed on to them in 
the wonderful letter of October loth, 191 5, "Cul- 
tivate in your life more loyalty and a Holy 
spirit." 

Inez Corcilius, 

For the Trustees. 



INTRODUCTION 

When, a year ago, I came to the United States, 
I was often forced to speak in broken English 
about the five wonderful years which I spent in 
Brussels under the same roof with England's 
martyred nurse, Edith Cavell. 

Many persons seemed to be interested in what 
I had to say ; among them was a friend, Mr. Jose 
de Muro, who advised me to write for the Ameri- 
can people what I knew of Miss Cavell's life while 
with her in Belgium. 

I tried, but my slight knowledge of the English 
language made my task a very difficult one. 

I am aware that many pages of this humble 
narrative are not of great literary merit. But I 
do claim that every word of it is true. 

Jacqueline Van Til, 

Former Trained Nurse of 
Edith Cavell, Brussels. 
White Plains, April 27, 1921. 




Jacqueline Van Til, R. N. 



WITH EDITH CAVELL 
IN BELGIUM 

CHAPTER I 

BEFORE THE WAR 

It was in the month of December, 1910, that 
a friend and I were going, for the first time, to 
the "Edith Cavell CHnique," called "L'ecole Beige 
pour les Infirmieres Diplomees," in Brussels. 

The weather was very cold that evening, when 
we rang the bell at what was to be our future 
home, and we were not sorry to have reached a 
place of shelter. A well-dressed maid opened the 
door, and conducted us to the room where Miss 
Edith Cavell was at work. This was the first 
time we had met. She made a deep impression 
on us. I distinctly remember that we felt quite 
uneasy at her gaze, for she impressed us as being 
very tall and distinguished. At that time of her 
life, she was about forty years of age. Her eyes 

9 






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Original letter of Edith Cavell, which I received from 
her in 1910. 

10 



I49» Rue de la Culture, 

Brussels, 
Telephone 9559. 
Mademoiselle : 

I have the pleasure of informing you that you 
are accepted as a pupil nurse on probation as well 
as your friend, Miss Stenton. 

Will you have the kindness to inform me on 
what day you will be free to enter our school ? 

Pray accept, Mademoiselle, my respectful salu- 
tations. 

E. Cavell, 

Directrice. 
loth October, 1910. 



II 



12 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

were blue; they would soften while she talked to 
us, but would become very stern and dark, when 
the little maid that was there dared to interrupt 
us. Her mouth was expressive, the lines around 
it were hard, both lips were extremely thin, — a 
trait that denoted strength of will and firmness 
of character. Her hair, a dark blonde, with 
silver strands at the temples, was neatly coiled on 
the back of her head. Her voice was clear and 
precise, and she spoke the French language with 
a charming English accent. Her movements were 
simple, and her little hand felt very soft when 
she grasped ours to welcome us to her home. She 
conducted us to our rooms and showed us the 
places where the nurses were allowed to go, and 
where they could amuse themselves with music 
or with needle-work. 

Our ''clinique" was not very large; and from 
the outside looked rather poor and inadequate. 
It was composed of four ordinary houses, two 
of them for the patients and two for the nurses 
and the servants. The numbers of the latter were 
149 and 147, and those of the former 145 and 
143. They were situated in the '*rue de la Cul- 
ture," a street that formed part of a suburb of 
Brussels named 'Txelles," and were about an 
hour's walk from that city. 



BEFORE THE WAR 13 

Because those four houses were much too 
small to contain all the nurses, Miss Cavell had 
decided to lodge some of the latter in another 
house at No. 140, in the same street, where she 
rented ten rooms for the private nurses, the public- 
health nurses, and nurses who worked outside the 
little ''clinique." 

The patients' rooms were well furnished and 
were painted white. The small operating-room 
was very well equipped indeed. Many patients 
were quite thankful to go to the small ''clinique,'* 
which was sometimes called '"The English Nurs- 
ing Home," in the ''rue de la Culture." 

In these houses we had room for thirty patients 
and each one had his own doctor. These were all 
private cases, but sometimes we nursed some poor 
chronic cases from the community, though, as 
a rule, we had only well-paying patients. 

The nurses were obliged to be trained in differ- 
ent hospitals, as the ''clinique" was too small to 
give them a good training. These nurses were, 
for the first year, under Miss Edith Cavell's 
special care, and they were given lectures and re- 
ceived practical training from fourteen physicians. 
The second year, she sent them to the different 
hospitals which she had founded during the time 
she was there; and, after three years of training 



14 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

elsewhere, they came back to her own hospital, 
where she perfected them in the science of nurs- 
ing the sick. 

Until now, there were very few Belgian girls 
at the *'clinique," as our Belgian people were not 
yet able to understand the meaning of Nurse- 
work. Most of us were strangers from different 
countries, — from Germany as well as from France 
and England; and all of us had to speak French 
when on duty. We were sixty in all, when my 
friend and I came here, in 1910, and I never shall 
forget how comical this little place seemed, filled 
as it was with the loud laughter and songs of the 
nurses, each in her own tongue. 

Miss Cavell never objected to various nationali- 
ties, all she required of us was obedience to her 
orders as well as to those of her assistant super- 
visors. This we well knew, and in all the years 
that I served her, I never met with a nurse who 
dared to disobey. 

During the first year, we stood in fear of her, 
for her remarks were oft-times severe and laconic. 
We never dared to come too late to table, knowing 
beforehand that we should encounter the stern 
reproach of her dark blue eyes, and the hard 
expression of her lips. How sorry I am, now, 
when I think of those moments during which we 




Sister Wilkins and Jack, Miss Cavell's 
Shepherd Dog 



BEFORE THE WAR 15 

nurses used to talk together about her and criti- 
cise her as being too severe! We Httle under- 
stood at that time, that her task was so difficult; 
that she was all alone in looking after the organ- 
ization and management of everything she had 
founded. 

When, in the year 1907, she came to Brussels, 
as a private nurse to the Graux family. Dr. 
DePage, one of our great surgeons, noticed the 
wonderful gifts of this English nurse. This doc- 
tor had encountered many difficulties in his work, 
on account of not having been properly assisted 
in nursing. He wished to start real trained nurs- 
ing for the sick in Belgium, as it existed already 
in England and Holland. He talked the matter 
over with some rich persons in his city, and with 
Miss Cavell's friends, the Graux family. A com- 
mittee was formed, and they offered Miss Cavell 
the position of superintendent of a home where 
young girls could be trained as nurses. 

For this purpose they rented four houses in 
the *Vue de la Culture," and had them arranged 
into a small *'clinique." Some publicity was given 
to the undertaking, and many posters were affixed 
to the walls of the houses of Brussels, with the 
words: ''Young Girls Wanted/' etc., written in 
large red letters. 



i6 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

When Miss Edith Cavell entered upon her new 
undertaking, in October, 1907, she had only four 
nurses, and two supervisors. The latter were 
English and did not know a word of French. 
Moreover, of these four nurses, three were Swiss 
girls, and the fourth was a Belgian girl, the only 
one of that nationality there. 

Speaking to me on this subject, Miss Cavell 
said that the beginning had been very trying in 
the small "clinique." The doctors, she added, 
had been too familiar with the nurses, and the 
English rules of her hospital were not always 
followed. 

Her will was strong, however, and she fought 
bravely against the lack of funds on the one hand, 
and the insincerity and narrow-mindedness of 
individuals on the other, but, in spite of these 
obstacles, she came off victorious. 

After one year's experience of trained nursing, 
in her establishment in the *Vue de la Culture," 
the doctors began to value her abilities, and to 
treat the nurses with more respect. 

It was at this time that, at the large Hospital 
of St. Gilles, under Dr. DePage, the nuns were 
dismissed, and Miss Cavell was installed in their 
place. The same change occurred in Dr. Meyer's 
sanatorium, where she laid down the first rules 



BEFORE THE WAR 17 

for the training of nurses, and, when I came, in 
1 910, she was already at the head of several hos- 
pitals in Brussels, together with the Tuberculosis 
Hospital at Buysinghen, a little village in Wal- 
lonie, Belgium. 

The same year, with only three workers, she 
placed nurses in the public-schools. In 191 5 there 
were twelve of them. She also sent trained 
nurses out on private cases. 

Her task was very hard indeed, for the mem- 
bers of the committee had lost some interest in 
the small ''clinique," and financial help was lack- 
ing; so that Miss Cavell had to depend entirely 
upon herself for the management of everything; 
for the young nurses, whom she was striving to 
convert into useful help, were thoughtlessly amus- 
ing themselves, while she was worrying over the 
lack of funds and the many other difficulties she 
had to encounter in her task. 

In the years 19 10 and 191 1 very few changes 
occurred. I attended the classes for trained 
nurses, and like the other nurses I was sent to the 
different hospitals. Miss Cavell, whom we were 
in the habit of calling "Madame," used to walk, 
three times a day, to and from the different places 
where she sent her nurses, and she was invariably 
followed there by her two dogs, Jack and Don. 



i8 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

I can still imagine I see her, walking along, with 
a slight stoop, accompanied by one of the patients, 
smiling pleasantly at the children whom she met 
along her way. 

All the patients were fond of her, and in the 
whole ^'clinique," there was not a soul who could 
give more comfort to a suffering patient than she, 
and though she had many duties to fulfil, yet she 
always found time to sit at the bedside of pain 
and sorrow, where she would minister to the sick, 
and inwardly pray for the sufferer's soul. 

Every night, at eight o'clock, we were required 
to attend the class-room, where it was her habit 
to instruct us in everything relating to the differ- 
ent diseases. She was indefatigable in teaching 
us, and never spared herself in anything that re- 
quired labor. When I look back, now, to that 
time, I cannot help but feel ashamed of myself 
to think that I, sometimes, could scarcely keep 
awake during the lecture, and when she would say 
to me, in a soft voice, "Mile. Van Til, won't you 
please sit next to me ? I don't think that you can 
follow the lecture very well," I could not keep 
from showing my chagrin. During my first year 
with her she seemed not to take much notice of 
me, but often the nurses would be called to her 



BEFORE THE WAR 19 

office to be admonished for loud laughter, and 
also advised to be careful of their manners. 

In 1 91 2 I was taken ill, and was transferred 
to a small room on the second floor, where Miss 
Cavell personally took care of me. I still can feel 
the touch of her soft white hand, gently gliding 
over my hair, her deep blue eyes peering into my 
fever-flushed face. 

She nursed me through it all, and when I was 
able to sit up, she would sit by my side and 
assure me that the good Lord had been with me 
all the while. She moreover told me that from 
that time on she would be like a mother to me. 
I shall ever recall those moments with gratitude 
and emotion, so clear and strong is their image 
engraved in my soul ! 

As I did not look strong upon leaving the sick- 
bed, "Madame" sent me to England to recuperate 
at her sister's home in Henley-on-Thames. The 
husband of the latter was a Dr. Wainright. They 
lived in a charming house called ''Upton Lodge." 
Here T met her dear old mother, and her other 
sister, Florence, who was a superintendent in a 
London Hospital. While I was stopping here I 
learned that Miss Cavell was born in 1865, in the 
vicinity of Norwich, and that her father had been 
a clergyman, who, when he died, left his wife in 













^^ 






tP.A. 



Postcard from Edith Cavell while she was 
IN England 



20 



My dear Nurse : 

I think you are right to go on with your studies. 
We will talk about it, when I come back. Thanks 
very much for your nice card. 

Yours truly, 

E. Cavell. 



21 



22 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

the care of his daughter Florence. Miss Cavell 
had a brother whom I did not see ; but, while there, 
I met many of her friends, who belonged to some 
of the best families of England. 

After remaining at her sister's home for a few 
weeks, I was sufficiently recovered to be able to 
return to the small ''clinique" in Belgium, and 
continue my work. 

Here a few changes had occurred, during my 
absence in England. The committee was now 
being assisted by a Mr. Goldsmith, a wealthy 
banker, who offered to furnish money for a new 
Nurses' School to be built in the "Rue de la 
Bruxelles." I remember, one evening, having 
been shown the plans by "Madame," herself, and 
I noticed how happy she was about it. She de- 
termined to look after all the plans. She suc- 
ceeded so well that the new Nurses' Building was 
started in 191 3. This same year I worked per- 
manently with her in the "clinique," while I 
learned more and more about her great ability, 
and when she went to her home in England, to 
spend her vacation with her family, I was left in 
charge of a section of the place. 

When she returned from England, in August, 
1 91 3, she had with her a young girl of fifteen, 



BEFORE THE WAR 23 

named Pauline Randell, whom she had found 
abandoned by her parents. 

"Madame" decided to become a god-mother to 
the girl, and employed her as a general help around 
the house. From that time on, ''Madame," 
Pauline, and Jack, the shepherd dog, could be seen 
strolling together every day to the different hospi- 
tals where some of her nurses were employed. 

We nurses did not take kindly to Pauline, and 
we detested Jack. Her other dog, Don, had been 
stolen from her in 191 1, to our great delight; for 
he annoyed us with his pranks; but Jack became 
fiercer than Don had been, and though he was a 
true and faithful dog, yet he would try to bite 
everyone who dared to look at his mistress. As 
regards Pauline, our dislike for her was from 
another cause. She was not a wicked girl, but 
she was haughty with us, and of a jealous dispo- 
sition, and had a way of reporting us to her mis- 
tress for the slightest error in our duties. Per- 
haps it is unkind of me to write this, and also 
unkind in us not to have been more generous and 
fair towards her and the dog; because they both 
rendered great assistance to their mistress in 
this house of many troubles. 

This same year, Madame Marie DePage, wife 
of Dr. DePage, began to take more interest in 



24 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

the work of nursing than she had hitherto done; 
she now assisted "Madame" in the administration 
of the hospital, and was very kind to us. Al- 
though her character was quite the opposite of that 
of ''Madame," yet they agreed, and, after a short 
time, they became close friends. Here I cannot 
help thinking how strange it seems to me that 
both these high-souled women died for their coun- 
try, each of them in such a sad way. 

In the beginning of the year 191 4 there was an 
Armenian boy, named "Jose," who had been edu- 
cated in Belgium, and of whom "Madame" took 
great care. This boy had shown himself to be 
honest and faithful, and he showed such a good 
character that she took him into her service, where 
he performed special duties allotted to him by 
his mistress. I make particular mention of this 
boy, in this place, because he afterward became 
well known to us, and played a worthy role in 
the sad drama of Miss Edith Cavell ; and, like so 
many others who served in the same cause, he, 
too, has been forgotten. 

As usual, at the end of July, of the same year, 
"Madame" took her vacation in England with 
Pauline, leaving a supervisor named Miss Wilkins 
in charge of the "clinique." The very day after 
she left, I went to Lille, to pay a visit to some 



BEFORE THE WAR 25 

friends of mine there, little dreaming that a great 
war was impending, and menacing the existence 
of my country and my own happy and peaceful 
life. When I reached the French border I was 
forced to remain for the whole night at the small 
station of Quevy. Everybody was talking about 
Germany, but I did not pay much attention to it. 
I reached Lille the next day, and there, too, every- 
one seemed very much upset. I decided that it 
would be best for me to return to Brussels. I 
arrived there on the fourth of August and went 
straight to the "rue de la Culture," where I found 
that Miss Cavell and Pauline had just come back 
from England. 

''Madame" appeared very calm, as she usually 
was, and said to me that she thought it best for 
her to stay with her nurses, now that their country 
seemed to be in danger. In spite of her calmness, 
however, many of her nurses left, first the German 
and then the Dutch girls, reducing greatly the 
personnel of the already small *'clinique." 



CHAPTER II 

OUTBREAK OF WAR 

Those were very troublesome days, just before 
the war was declared. "Madame" had a hard time 
trying to keep the young nurses together, and 
endeavored to calm them by assuring them that 
it would probably not occur, or that, at all events, 
it would not last long. Her efforts were all lost, 
however, for when on the very next day, the 
fifth of August, 1 91 4, the Belgian Army officers, 
in their war automobiles, drove up and down the 
streets to call up recruits for the army, all our 
nurses were seized with a panic. Yet it was 
"Madame" who told us to think of our patients, 
and to remain and do our duty toward them. She 
succeeded in calming us, and did not seem very 
anxious, for she herself was at that time convinced 
that the Germans would never reach Brussels. 

We got most of the beds of our "clinique" ready 
to receive wounded Belgian soldiers. Nearly all 
the patients had left — many of them in great haste 

26 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 27 

— because of their fear of the Germans; and like 
all the rich, they went to the sea-shore, thinking 
that the Prussians would never dare to come there. 

All the wealthy men of Brussels who did not 
desire to join the army, had their homes made 
ready for the wounded. We called these little 
hospitals "ambulances." There were more than 
twelve hundred of these in existence when the 
Germans finally arrived. 

Our *'clinique," as I have mentioned above, was 
situated in a suburb of the city, and by this time 
no patients remained, so that "Madame" sent some 
of her nurses, myself included, to a large ambu- 
lance base in the city. A few days before this, 
the King and Queen had left for Antwerp. The 
royal consort had previously given up her beau- 
tiful palace to be used as an ambulance station, 
and Marie DePage had been received there by Her 
Majesty as its superintendent. 

Dr. LeBoeuf, the Queen's private physician, 
assisted Mme. DePage, and remained attached to 
this ambulance base throughout the war. 

In those days, when we first heard the German 
cannons booming over the frontier, and when their 
soldiers seemed, each moment, to be coming 
nearer and nearer — we had not, as yet, known 
what war really was — everything so peaceful and 



2S WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

calm in our *'clinique" to which we returned 
every night from the city to rest. 

In the St. Jean's Ambulance, where I worked, 
there was only one Belgian patient, so far, and 
he had never seen a German. He was a bicyclist 
that had been sent to Liege, but never reached 
there, having fallen from his wheel and broken 
his left arm. Being the only wounded soldier we 
had in our place we made much of him, and you 
can imagine what a glorious time he had ! 

Things were not yet so very sad in Brussels; 
the streets were lively and crowded with recruits 
for the army, and our little ''JASS," * laughing 
and hopeful, was starting for the German border. 
Even at the railroad stations we met with smiling 
faces, and no one seemed to realize the gravity 
of the event. What did we know, at that time, 
about war and cannons? But, alas, when the 
Germans finally did enter Brussels, we could 
hardly believe our eyes ! 

Sorrow, now, took the place of gaiety on those 
faces which but a short while before had been 
so full of sunshine and levity. Had it not been 
for our Burgomaster, the brave Mr. Max, many 
terrible events might have occurred. 

* "Jass" is the Flemish term for the Belgian soldier, like 
the word 'Toilu" is for the French. — Author's note. 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 29 

Our misfortunes had already begun, when we 
heard the sound of the German cannon close to 
the Belgian capital, just as the last trains had 
left it for the sea-shore. 

We, now, were beginning to feel very uneasy. 
During the evenings, the excitement in the streets 
was profound, and the windows of the German 
business houses and stores were broken by angry 
Belgian citizens, who would become exasperated 
upon hearing anyone speak with a foreign accent, 
and immediately try to knock the strangers down. 

The excitement was considerably increased 
when some Belgians came with the news that 
Louvain, that proud and famous old Flemish 
town, was burning, though the daily paper, "Le 
Soir," one of the few that were still issued, had 
not mentioned the disaster at all — probably with 
the thoughtful intention of keeping the people 
quiet. But when the first refugees from Ter- 
vueren, a small village about five miles from the 
Belgian capital, arrived and informed us of all 
the horrors committed by the Germans in Lou- 
vain, we were utterly horrified. 

I shall never forget the evening before the Prus- 
sians entered Brussels, when some of the nurses 
and I went up to the roof of our "clinique" and 
saw the sky, toward the East and the North-East, 



30 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

all a fiery red with glaring rockets and exploding 
shells, and accompanied by enormous clouds of 
thick, black smoke, which came rolling ominously 
in our direction. It was an awe-inspiring sight, 
and Its effect was greatly increased by the terrific 
din of the ever-booming cannon, the concussion 
of which was so intense that many window-panes 
were broken around us. 

Many persons fled in great haste from Brussels, 
abandoning their former happy homes to the 
mercy of the cruel invaders. 

All our nurses were crying and trembling with 
fear. I, too, was frightened. ''Madame" found 
me sitting on the landing of the stairs, weeping 
bitterly. She peered into my upturned face, with 
that calm powerful gaze of hers, with something 
mild, yet full of firm reproach in it, and bade 
me not to give way to my feelings, that my life 
no longer belonged to myself alone, but also to 
my duty as a nurse. And she finally succeeded 
in calming me, as she did the other nurses; for, 
whenever there was an occasion for her to use 
persuasion, she always knew the proper thing to 
say to her nurses. 

So, the very next day, I went as usual to the 
Ambulance Station where I had been detailed to 
work. We had nothing to do there, however, for 




u 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 31 

the solitary Belgian soldier-patient of whom we 
had to take care had nearly recovered from his 
broken arm. The time seemed to drag on us; 
from nine o'clock until two, the hours seemed to 
us to creep very slowly along. 

Then, all at once, our janitress, a very stout 
woman, suddenly ran into the hall, shouting ex- 
citedly in French : ''Les Boches sont la ! Les 
Boches sont la !" * We were all thrown into a 
state of confusion, and seemed spell-bound, the 
medical staff as well as the nurses. One of the 
doctors burst out crying, some of the nurses 
fainted. I was trembling all over with excitement, 
and I thought that the best thing for me to do 
was to go outdoors and get some fresh air. Im- 
mediately I, together with my friend, Miss Sten- 
ton, went out into the street, where thousands 
of citizens, with blanched faces, were standing 
mournfully around. 

We followed some of the crowd to the street 
corner, but when we reached the place we could 
not hear a word that was said. We then went to 
the barracks situated in the suburbs, to get some 
information from the guardians there, but not a 
soul was to be seen. The large buildings were 
quite deserted. This made things look sad, in- 
* Meaning, "The Huns are coming !" — Author's note. 



32 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

deed, to us; and to add to our sorrow, nature 
itself appeared to be laughing at our misfortunes, 
and seemed to conspire against us with the 
enemies; for the golden sun was pouring its bril- 
liant light over the long columns of the German 
troops that were steadily advancing toward us. 
My friend and I both sat upon a rail fence by the 
road-side to view the rows upon rows of on- 
coming soldiers. They were approaching from 
four sides, and they looked like monster snakes 
with sinuous, winding bodies issuing from be- 
tween the tall grass on either side of the road. 

In spite of our fear and hatred of these foes, 
we could not help being fascinated at the sight of 
this great army, the pick of the German troops, 
as they passed in front of us, looking rosy-faced 
and well-fed, though somewhat awkward, with 
their heads held stiff, and the proud, triumphant 
smile of the conqueror on their faces. They ad- 
vanced in rows of eight men each and between 
their ranks some poor Belgian prisoners were 
walking painfully along in their bare feet. This 
was a piteous sight indeed for us to view, and at 
it, our hatred for our country's foes grew sud- 
denly strong, and impelled us to remain where we 
were, and gaze our fill. When we had seen 
enough we found a means of following a section 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 33 

^^ ^Viese troops to the ''Grande Place de Brus- 
sels," or tne pii,xv.:j,al square. Here Mr. Max, 
our brave Burgomaster, was awaiting the arrival 
of the Germans. 

Everyone was now quiet in the street. The 
shop-windows were all tightly closed ; the curtains 
in all the houses were lowered, and all this, by 
order of our prudent Burgomaster, who, the 
evening before, had announced that all individuals 
who did not follow these rules would not be 
considered as true Belgians. This notice was 
posted on all the walls of Brussels. 

It was here, in "La Grande Place" of the Capi- 
tal of Belgium, that the well-beloved Burgomaster 
received the German Commander, a tall, heavily 
built man, who demanded the surrender of the 
city. Accordingly, Mr. Max, standing upright, 
his head erect and his face deathly pale, decorously 
handed the keys of the city, the emblem of its 
liberty, to the smiling and bowing conqueror be- 
fore him. I was not close enough to see his eyes, 
but I am certain that persons standing near him 
could not fail to notice the dignified gaze of our 
beloved Burgomaster. 

In the evening of the same eventful, weary day, 
several German papers placarded on the city 
walls, proclaimed to the inhabitants that the 



34 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

''Prussians were our masters." But, between tw^ 
large notices, could be seen - -maiier proclama- 
tion, printed in red ink, in French and in Flemish, 
which ran thus : 

"We are Belgians ! The only legal master we have 
is our rightful sovereign, King Albert. The pres- 
ent conquerors may have rules for their own people. 
We Have Ours !" 

Signed : 

Max, Burgomaster of Brussels. 

The very next day, he was sent away to Ger- 
many, as a prisoner, and he remained an exile 
there for the duration of the war. 

This made a very sad impression on the hearts 
of our people, and caused the circling war-clouds 
to appear darker and darker around our beloved 
city. 

As a consequence of the entry of the Prussians 
into Brussels, everything in our ambulance 
station was entirely changed, we now had many 
German soldiers to nurse, that had been wounded 
at Liege, Louvain, Tervueren and other places 
along the invader's line of march. 

On the evening before, when "Madame" had 
called us together, to impress the idea upon us, 
that it was our duty, above all, to nurse all the 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 35 

wounded of whatever nation, under the influence 
of her powerful will, I did not dare to make 
known to her my profound disgust for my 
country's foes. So that I, together with the rest 
of the nurses, went, as was our custom, to the 
ambulance station, to aid in allaying the suffer- 
ing of the injured patients; for some of the latter 
were badly wounded and also ill-clad. 

Among our hospital supplies, we had much 
clothing that had been donated by wealthy 
patrons, but it was made for Belgian soldiers, 
who, as a rule, are small in stature and light 
of weight; so that when we had to put these 
under-sized garments on the tall, big, clumsy Ger- 
man patients, they were, of course, much too 
short and too tight, making the Prussians appear 
so ludicrous to us that, in spite of our sorrows, 
we could scarcely keep from laughing. 

Here I shall have to relate what occurred to 
the solitary Belgian soldier that was still in our 
care. The next day after the Bodies arrived, he 
remained hidden away in a small room in our 
building, and we, fearing that he would be caught 
by the enemy, determined upon helping him to 
escape. So, that night, we led him to the gardner's 
house, and there he managed to give the Huns the 
slip. I have never, since then, heard what became 



36 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

of him; though I have still the image of his large 
blue eyes with their childlike kindly expression, 
strongly engraved on my mind. 

The days that followed these soul-stirring and 
painful events in our city were filled with trouble 
and sadness to the Belgian people. The arrival 
of the German troops, and the Proclamation of 
their commander completely changed our former 
conditions; from the free and happy people that 
we had been so shortly before, we were now re- 
duced to the state of unhappy prisoners. The 
enemy soon made us feel their authority. Every 
day, there would occur many arrests of Belgian 
citizens, who had not followed the new laws of 
the invaders. The latter had already taken full 
possession of the city, and had installed them- 
selves in the abandoned homes of those of the 
inhabitants that had fled to the seashore, or to 
England and Holland. All the military barracks, 
as well as all the public schools, and ambulance 
stations were crowded to the brim with German 
soldiers, who deliberately destroyed the stores of 
carefully sewn military clothing — the work of 
our brave Belgian women — that had been hastily 
abandoned by our retreating army. 

The departure of our King and Queen made 
things seem all the sadder for us, since the details 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 37 

of it were so conflicting. When we thought that 
the Royal couple were still in Antwerp, they were 
actually running a thousand dangers on the sea, 
on their way to England. 

Food and all the daily necessities of life had, 
by this time, become excessively expensive, and 
some of the most useful commodities were allowed 
to be taken only by the invaders ; so that there was 
very little indeed left for us. 

Two days afterward, the enormous army of the 
Germans (greatly increased by the continuous 
arrival of fresh troops from the Fatherland), was 
divided into two main fighting bodies, of which 
one division was sent to Antwerp, through Malines 
and Termond, both of which towns they ruthlessly 
destroyed, the other division was sent to France, 
by way of Waterloo, Mons, Namur, Charleroi, 
etc. 

The cannon were booming night and day, and 
the horrid din of exploding shells was appalling. 
The forts of Antwerp fell, one after another, and 
it seemed to us that darkness and horror had 
chosen a dwelling place within our souls. 

"Madame" alone, was as calm as ever. She 
continued tranquilly to direct us in all our duties. 

So far, nothing was changed in our small 
"clinique." The reason for this was that the 



38 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

suburb in which it was situated was somewhat 
remote from the German Headquarters, and that 
the enemy preferred to dwell in the city itself 
rather than in such an out-of-the-way place as was 
Ixelles; and therefore we had not yet been an- 
noyed by their presence. 

* 'Madame" went, every day, accompanied by 
Pauline and Jack, to the St. Gilles' Hospital, 
where some of her nurses were still working; 
she, also, went daily to the place where the build- 
ing for the new Nurses' Training School had 
been started, which she could still visit without 
the least hindrance from the invaders. 

Nevertheless, every night, she would call us 
together and seem to search into our inmost souls 
to see if we lacked courage; and she would en- 
deavor to instil into us ideas of hope and fortitude. 
Up to the present time she had not shown much 
concern about the enemies' advance into our 
country. She did not speak much about them to 
us. Yet, she showed the loving tenderness of her 
womanly nature, by her constant solicitude for 
the welfare and care of the wounded. 

As for myself, I still frequented the Ambulance 
Station, where, already, many of the enemies' 
wounded were to be found, some of them strug- 
gling in the throes of death. Many were mere 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 39 

lads, and many, fathers of families, people just 
like our own, but our enemies now, dying around 
us, and most of them laboring under the impres- 
sion that they had conquered, and had reached 
their long cherished goal — 'Taris !" 

We cared for them, just the same as if they 
were our own wounded. But, when some of the 
least injured recovered sufficiently to be able to 
carry a gun, they were immediately sent to the 
front for the purpose, as we knew only too well, 
of killing our brothers and fathers. This was a 
cruel destiny for us, indeed, to be forced to help 
in nursing back to health these, our country's 
foes, only to assist them in gaining a victory over 
our own brave men. In spite of that, we took 
good care of these suffering soldiers. 

These wounded soldiers were, as a rule, polite 
enough to us, and did not talk much with us about 
the actual war conditions. The reason of this 
was, as I learned later, that they really did not 
know much about them. Yet it sometimes hap- 
pened that one of the younger German lads, or, it 
might be, some uneducated German farmer, for- 
getting that his life was in our hands, out of 
overweening Teuton pride, would endeavor to 
show us weak, defenceless nurses his strong love 
for the Kaiser, by sketching a rough portrait of 



40 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

him on the wall of his room, with the word 
"Paris" near it; and then the likeness of 
Napoleon, with the word "Waterloo" underneath. 
These were moments hard for us to bear, and 
though by our forced calmness, we showed no out- 
ward indignation, yet, inwardly, we were not lack- 
ing in resentment. 

In the beginning of September, 19 14, the Ger- 
man Red Cross Nurses arrived, and they imme- 
diately replaced us in this Hospital Base. Our 
doctors and our nurses were dismissed, of course, 
and I went back to our "clinique" in the "rue de 
la Culture," where I remained to help "Madame." 
There was only one patient left, a Mme. De Vos, 
one of our laundry women, who had to undergo 
some operation. With the exception of hers, all 
the rooms were without occupants. Yet Madame 
enjoined us to keep the beds still prepared, as it 
was customary, and to have the rooms cleaned 
every day. We did not quite understand her 
reason for all this work, in a tenantless "clinique," 
nevertheless we did as she bade us. 

The personnel in the clinique at that time con- 
sisted of six pupil-nurses, together with the super- 
visor. Sister Wilkins, and myself. Besides 
Pauline and Jose, there were the housemaids, the 
linen-room and laundry help. Our other nurses 



OUTBREAK OF WAR 41 

were doing work in the different hospitals which 
Madame had started, and the school-nurses were 
still occupied in the public-schools of Brussels. We 
were all in excellent health, and only suffered from 
the quality of the food, which was beginning to 
be poor. In spite of all we had gone through, we 
were not very anxious; and even when Madame 
Marie DePage came to us from the Queen's 
Palace, she did not bring any unusually bad news. 
She, too, like ourselves, and Miss Cavell, thought 
that the war would soon be over. Such was the 
life we were leading in September, 191 4, only a 
very few days before our most strenuous work 
commenced. 

Notwithstanding all we had experienced, we 
had up till now remained like light-hearted 
thoughtless children, and though we could begin 
to see anxiety and sorrow in Madame's kindly 
face, still, we did not yet fully realize the gravity 
of our situation; nor did we foresee the terrible 
fate that was impending over the principal per- 
sonages of our humble little ''clinique." We did 
not even give the least thought to what might 
happen to us all. But, that evening, when we got 
hold of an English newspaper, in which it was 
made clear to us that at Charleroi, in Belgium, the 
English and the French soldiers had been obliged 



42 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

by overwhelming numbers, to retreat into France, 
our long cherished dream of a speedy conclusion 
of the war faded rapidly away, and we were again 
plunged into a state of despair. ''Madame" no 
longer essayed to cheer us at her piano with her 
music and her songs, but, instead, she would talk 
to us every night about our duty to help the 
wounded soldiers, a duty that we could, at that 
time, with difficulty understand, since there were, 
as yet, no injured or maimed troops, in the 
"clinique" for us to nurse. 

It was on the 26th of September, 1914, that 
"Madame" called us to her office, to explain to 
us that the German army had reached the French 
frontier, and also to inform us that many Bel- 
gian soldiers were at that moment without food 
and shelter. She, moreover, told us that it would 
be a very worthy and charitable act for us to give 
up our salaries to these destitute and hungry men. 
At first, we were quite surprised at this request; 
we had some difficulty in grasping her intention 
in wishing us to tender them our aid, for, until 
then, she had not shown any interest whatever 
in the matter relating to this horrid war. 
We were somewhat reluctant to part with the 
few five- and ten- franc pieces — the meagre 
amount of wages that we received from her — 



OUTBREx\K OF WAR 43 

that we had to be very economical withal. See- 
ing our hesitancy she tried to persuade us, by 
stating that it would be a good way for us to 
show our self-sacrificing love and devotion to 
our unhappy country, in thus coming to the aid 
of these needy souls. She, moreover, added that 
she would herself take charge of the fund and 
relieve us of all the extra worry or responsibility 
that the good work would entail. 



CHAPTER III 

THE FIRST REFUGEE 

We were now actually forced to realize to what 
an extent the war had reached, and how hard 
it was to bear the many evils that it brought into 
our former peaceful mode of life. We had, after 
the first excitement of the invasion, been getting 
used to war conditions, and as the seat of the 
actual fighting receded farther and farther from 
us in Brussels, we, like all the^other citizens there, 
gave little thought to it, alas ! Now, the frightful 
effects of real war were beginning to be keenly 
felt by us ! 

On the evening of the 27th, — a day that I shall 
always have impressed upon my mind — the 
weather was splendid, and the only thing that 
marred it was the continual distant booming of 
the cannon all around us. We were all seated at 
our supper, about 7 o'clock, with, as was cus- 
tomary, ''Madame" at the head of the table. It 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 45 

had been a standing order of hers, that while at 
her meals, Madame was on no account whatever 
to be disturbed by any one. But that evening, 
however, her strict rule was destined to be broken. 
She was suddenly interrupted by Marie, her maid, 
who boldly entered the room, and in a low tone 
said something to her mistress that I could not 
understand. ''Madame" arose, and immediately 
left the table. Such an occurrence had never be- 
fore taken place. We continued our repast, never- 
theless; but as soon as it was over, we all pro- 
ceeded to the class room, as was usual with us, 
and engaged in useful occupation. I was occupied 
with some needle-work, when ''Madame" hastily 
entered the room, spoke a few words in an under- 
tone to Sister Wilkins, then, turning toward me, 
requested me to follow her to her private room. 
I arose and accompanied her there. I can dis- 
tinctly remember how many times I have gone to 
this identical room, whenever there was any mo- 
mentous occasion for so doing, and how many 
moments I have spent there. As I was following 
"Madame" to her room, that evening, I could not 
help wondering why she looked so deathly pale 
and seemed so sad. 

I little thought that, in a few minutes, I, too, 
would be looking just as pale and worried; and 



46 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

not without good cause; for before me, there 
were two nearly unclad, haggard, starving men 
seated in Madame' s office. One of the men ap- 
peared to me, at first sight, to be a soldier; but 
I could not then distinguish whether he was a 
friend or a foe. I inquired of Madame what she 
wished me to do. She merely said, 'Take the 
young man who cannot talk, and whose name is 
Pierre, to room No. 9, and the other young man, 
who is called Louis, must be conducted to room 
No. 12, where he is to be taken care of by 
Mademoiselle Paula Van Bock Staele." 

Obedient to her orders, I led, or rather, I half 
carried this ragged haggard-eyed, feeble, poor 
fellow to his allotted room, and gave him some 
food which he eagerly swallowed, as he looked 
at me with feverish blood-shot eyes. When he 
had finished eating, I laid him on a couch, and 
got a warm bath ready for him. His body was 
in a frightful condition from the hardships he 
had gone through, and there was also a wound 
that needed careful attention. He did not speak 
a word; but upon removing the remnant of what 
served him as clothing, I found an object, that 
was eloquent enough. There was an English 
flag wound round his breast! I instantly knew 
that he was an English soldier. That very mo- 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 47 

ment I began to be anxious for his safety, and 1 
thought then, as Madame told me later she also 
thought, that he must be concealed from his foes. 
I knew not a word of English. All I could say 
was, "Vous English?" "Yes, yes," he replied. 

I was so upset about it all, that I actually forgot 
what to do. He looked up helplessly into my face, 
poor fellow, with such an appealing expression 
that the mere sight of it caused the tears to pour 
down my cheeks. He bent his head forward and 
kissed me on my hands. 

^Whence did he come?" "Who was he?" I 
could not find out, not having a knowledge of 
English, which was evidently his mother tongue. 
He was a soldier, too, and would not speak a 
word, being bound by honor not to betray his 
friends. The other dilapidated and haggard 
looking man, his comrade in distress, was also 
an English soldier. 

Needless to say, that this event threw us all 
into consternation, and this it was that had caused 
"Madame's" face to become so anxious and pale. 
In fact, it was a very serious matter — two English 
soldiers, allies of the Belgians, in our midst, and 
the city in the hands of the ruthless German in- 
vaders! Without our consent, and by force of 
circumstances, we were breaking the enemies' 



48 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

rules ! Already, the latter, in red and black letters, 
had placarded on the walls of Brussels the fol- 
lowing notice: ''Any male or female who hides 
an English or a French soldier in his house or on 
his premises, shall be severely punished." 

Before this event took place, we used to read 
this notice without much concern, not fully realiz- 
ing the gravity of its meaning; but, now, its full 
meaning burst only too clearly upon our minds. 
Here we were with two wounded and starving 
English soldiers in our home ! What were we to 
do? We were hospital nurses, and surely, it was 
our duty to help these sick and wounded men ; and 
help we must. But it was a serious case for us 
to undertake; and if I felt anxious about it, 
"Madame" also, must have certainly felt much 
more so than I. But, in spite of her anxiety, she 
decided to follow the dictates of humanity and 
fulfill her duty by taking proper care of these 
two unfortunate men. 

Such was the state of our minds when we re- 
tired for the night, after having wished our new 
patients a good-night. When I reached my room, 
I felt so tired that I immediately fell asleep, and 
did not even worry about the danger that lurked 
in our home. Our confidence in "Madame" was 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 49 

so great that we thought that everything she did 
was always right. 

After having rested for two days, these two 
EngHsh soldiers both looked so refreshed and 
good humored that it made us feel quite happy 
to see them. They were two as good-looking 
young men as one could wish to behold, and most 
of our girls were infatuated with them. We cer- 
tainly gave them a very pleasant time, during the 
eight days they remained with us. We supplied 
them with cigarettes, and with plenty of English 
books. We had a most amusing time trying to 
converse with them; but with our limited stock 
of English words, we were greatly handicapped; 
we could only talk about the weather or the state 
of our health. Still we kept up a continuous fire 
of rapid conversation, after the French fashion, 
with the piano going most of the time, and man- 
aged to keep them gay and lively all the while. 
It was a pleasure to see their blue eyes brighten, 
and their faces break into a happy smile, as soon 
as they caught a glimpse of a nurse's white cap 
at the threshold of their rooms. 

* 'Madame" came three times every day to their 
sick chamber to inquire after their health, and 
also to see if we were doing things rightly; and 
even Pauline, whenever she got the opportunity, 



50 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

would come and chat with the EngHsh patients, 
while Jack, the faithful shepherd dog, would 
mount guard at the door. 

Meanwhile, outside, in the street, German sol- 
diers would sometimes walk by, and cast a casual 
glance at our modest ''clinique," but without ever 
paying any marked attention to it, as there was 
nothing of a suspicious nature in the looks of the 
open windows and the wide open door of our 
home. These men were probably some of the 
advanced guard of straggling soldiers, who were 
on leave, and were enjoying a stroll through our 
suburb, after having enjoyed themselves with the 
amusements of the Belgian metropolis. But none 
of these men ever annoyed us, and moreover they 
were not very numerous ; for at that moment, only 
a small army was left to guard the Capital; the 
great mass of the invading German forces was 
actually engaged in its rapid advance across Bel- 
gium into France. 

So our English "Tommies" were not molested, 
and they remained with us for eight days, where, 
during the whole of that time they were royally 
entertained by us. One night, in the beginning of 
October, ''Madame" told me to wake her at four 
o'clock in the morning, as well as the two sol- 
diers, who were obliged to leave our place for some 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 51 

safer destination. She, moreover, ordered our 
Armenian boy Jose to prepare bread and coffee for 
the two men, and a lunch bag containing ten shces 
of bread for each one. I did as I was told to do, 
and, accordingly, the next morning at four o'clock, 
I found her ready dressed, wearing a blue cloak 
and a black hat. The two men were also ready 
and neatly clad in workingmen's clothes. After 
having drunk a cup of coffee and eaten a morsel 
of bread, they all went out into the still darkened 
street — first ''Madame" and Jose, and then the 
two English soldiers, the latter following at a 
little distance. The two disguised Tommies 
seemed very brave about it, and walking boldly 
away, soon disappeared from our view. 

We felt very sad at losing two such bright good 
fellows, who had brought so pleasant a change 
into our midst; and we were, moreover, sorry 
because we did not know what became of them. 

Three hours later, ''Madame" returned with 
Jose only. We understood by this that she had 
accompanied these men to another place of safety; 
and we were forbidden to make any further men- 
tion of the affair. 

Immediately afterward "Madame" retired to 
her office, and in an hour or so, she sent for me 
to inform me that the next night we were to 



52 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

receive nine more men, and that I must get the 
beds ready for them. On the following morn- 
ing, I happened to be opening the door, when a 
young woman of about thirty-two years of age 
walked into the sitting room and asked to see 
Miss Cavell ; but, before I could deliver the mes- 
sage, ''Madame" herself came to greet her, and 
led her into the private office, where they re- 
mained for quite a while. When the young lady 
came out of the office, "Madame" introduced her 
to me as being a Mademoiselle Martin, which 
was an assumed name, however, for her real one 
I afterward learned was "Louise Thuilliez." The 
lady then went away. 

Later in the day, I saw Mile. Martin again, 
together with the nine men who "Madame" had 
said were to be brought to our place. Of these 
nine men, eight were English soldiers, the re- 
maining one was a Frenchman. How they ever 
managed to reach us without being noticed by the 
enemy, in the broad daylight, is more than I 
could, at that time, understand ! 

These English soldiers, of course, could not 
speak a word of French or of Flemish, and in 
these troublous times, it was rather a dangerous 
thing even for a Frenchman to speak his own 
language, with his accent so markedly different 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 53 

from that of the Belgians, without running the 
risk of being detected by the Germans. This risk 
was still greater for the English to run, as they 
could be more easily recognized. 

All these men appeared to us to be very much 
worn out by the severe hardships which they 
had undergone. We hastened to minister to their 
wants. We prepared baths and gave them food, 
after which we helped them to their beds. All 
this gave us so much extra work that we were 
obliged to get the house-servants to help us in 
nursing these wornout men. 

That evening a young working man from the 
city called on ''Madame." She conversed with 
him in her office for a short while, then she pre- 
sented him to me, saying, "This is Mr. Gilles, the 
guide." I looked at him, and, at first sight he 
appeared to me to be a man of about thirty- two 
years of age, rather poorly dressed, with a rosy 
face, and blue eyes that had a very honest look 
about them. 

I could not understand where all these men 
had come from, and, as for themselves, they either 
could not or would not tell anything about their 
affairs. 

I was brooding over this matter for a while, 
and after quite an interval of hard work attend- 



54 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

ing to them, I summoned courage enough to ask 
* 'Madame" whether she would tell me whence they 
came. The look that came into her deep blue 
eyes, as she gazed into mine, will remain forever 
impressed upon my mind. After a slight pause, in 
which interval she seemed to be searching keenly 
into the very depths of my soul, perhaps with 
the intention of discovering whether I was trust- 
worthy enough to be taken into her confidence, 
she decided to tell me the following facts : When 
the German army had advanced as far as Char- 
leroi, a desperate encounter took place there from 
August the 2 1 St to the 25th, and it is now famous 
in history as the ''Battle of Mons-Charleroi." 
This we all know to-day, but at that time 
"Madame" only knew of the dogged retreat of 
the English and French, where, on account of 
the enemies' overwhelming numbers, and power- 
ful artillery, many a brave young English soldier 
and many a French "Poilu" lost his life. 

It was about these agonizing days of terrible 
ruin and disaster that "Madame" spoke to me. 
After the gigantic human avalanche of German 
invaders had swept fiercely by with disconcerting 
rapidity, their commanders were too much en- 
grossed by the vastness of their warlike enter- 
prise to pay much attention to the casualties they 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 55 

had caused, during the preHminary battles they 
had fought in their quick advance toward the 
French capital. Thus it was that many an out- 
of-the-way battlefield where the British and the 
French had struggled with the enemy and lost, 
was now overlooked by the foe, as an unimportant 
detail, and consequently, many of these poor, 
wotmded and worn-out soldiers of the Allies could 
be found scattered here and there over the numer- 
ous fields that formed the terrain of the recent 
early battles of the war. Some of these severely 
maimed and helpless men had managed to hide 
themselves away in some dug-out in the trenches, 
or in trees; others, more fortunate than the first, 
took shelter in abandoned farm houses, or empty 
stables ; but many of them, alas ! succeeded in get- 
ting to these places of refuge only to find there an 
agonizing and a lonely deathbed. 

To add to the sense of utter abandonment of 
these ill-fated victims of war, the few peasants 
that had had the courage to remain on their farms, 
would not leave their shelters, to go to the aid of 
these suffering men. It often happened, how- 
ever, that the children of the neighborhood of 
these lonely battlefields would sally forth to 
reconnoiter, or to play, and be startled at finding 
a festering corpse of an unknown man lying in 



56 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

a ditch or under some brushwood where death had 
overtaken him. Whereupon, these frightened 
children would hasten home and inform their 
parents of their discovery. When night came, the 
latter would go out and bury these dead; and 
their graves would be afterward strewn with 
flowers by the hands of these same tender-hearted 
children who had been the first to find their occu- 
pants. As I have said before, most of the farmers 
were afraid to go out to look for these men 
either living or dead, and I am sorry to state 
that, often, when they would hear some one knock- 
ing at their farm doors, late in the evening, the 
occupants of these homes would refuse to open. 
It thus happened that many a forlorn combatant 
deemed it useless for him to call upon the farmer 
for help; and even the children were sometimes 
afraid of receiving him because of the numerous 
detached troops that still remained in the small 
neighboring villages, where these young ones saw 
every day some new proclamation against the 
harboring of English or French troops there- 
abouts. We can infer from this how unhappy 
was the fate of these unfortunate men, whose 
rigorous lot was increased by the fear of the 
selfish farmers whose hearts had become steeled 
by the reiterated threats of their foes. 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 57 

It is hard for Americans, who have been spared 
these horrors in their own home, to reaHze the 
saddening effects caused by the view of these 
humble graves upon the tender souls of the young 
children, who, sometimes, found as many as five 
or six of these dead bodies daily, in their wander- 
ings over the fields; and you can consider your- 
self lucky, you who view those graves to-day, in 
the bright sun of peace, that you did not, like 
these men, who were flesh and blood like your- 
selves, die abandoned and unknown after many 
weary days of horrible anguish and suffering. 

"Madame" went on to say that upon being in- 
formed of these sad cases, the Princess de Croy 
and her brother, a bachelor, both of whom were 
at that time living in their chateau, on the French 
border, were greatly moved by the sorrowful 
plight of these war victims. These two chari- 
table persons were very fond of outdoor sports. It 
was during one of their many trips across country 
that they either met with the children of that 
neighborhood, who told them of the soldiers' 
plight, or they saw it for themselves. They im- 
mediately sent word to the Countess of Bellignies, 
a friend of theirs, who lived in the town of that 
name situated on the French border. 

I have no knowledge of what passed between 



58 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

these persons, but the outcome of their meeting 
was, that they wrote to Mile. Thuilliez to come 
to their home and decide what was best to be 
done to aid these men. As I have stated before, 
Mademoiselle Thuilliez was a French teacher 
from Lille. I may add that she was a very brave 
and energetic woman, calm and self-possessed. 
She immediately determined to go to these places 
alone, to see what assistance could be rendered. 

This lady personally told me how she went for 
the first time to one of these small villages, just 
above Charleroi. How she inquired of the farm- 
ers there, whether they knew of any refugee sol- 
diers; but these men refused to talk to her about 
them. She then determined upon searching for 
them all alone. She waited for nightfall, then, 
accompanied by some of the children of the local- 
ity, she made her way to an abandoned battlefield. 
Here, there was no immediate danger to her per- 
son, because the Germans were then too much 
occupied and excited in their fighting elsewhere 
to give any close attention to these out-of-the-way 
places. The very ground they had struggled over 
was still wet with the blood of the wounded and 
dying, and encumbered also by all the debris of 
war. All this made it extremely difficult for a 
frail young woman like her, and for the tender 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 59 

young children with her, to tread their way in 
safety through the gruesome scenes of the com- 
bat of three weeks ago. 

On Mademoiselle Thuilliez' first visit to these 
desolate fields, she failed to find any of the un- 
fortunate soldiers; but on the second night that 
she courageously ventured there she saw a dark 
object lying half -buried in the slimy mud of one 
of the abandoned trenches. On closer examina- 
tion it turned out to be that of an exhausted sol- 
dier in a dying condition. 

Aided by the children. Mademoiselle Thuilliez 
managed to carry the suffering man to the humble 
cabin of some poor frightened miners. 

After which she sent a messenger to the Princess 
de Croy, who, the very next day, came in person 
to see the exhausted man. The latter was an 
English soldier. Upon seeing this charitable lady, 
he told her that many of his comrades were, like 
himself, lying wounded or dying in the trenches 
around about where she had found him. 

After having found many of these disabled 
soldiers in the neglected battlefields of this locality, 
the Princess de Croy, dreading to leave them in 
the villages, at the mercy of the selfish and indif- 
ferent farmers, had them removed to her own 
dwelling place; but she was unable to keep them 



6o WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

there for any length of time, through fear of 
their being discovered by the Germans. She im- 
mediately sought aid from the Countess de Belle- 
ville, who was well acquainted with a Monsieur 
Capiau, a civil engineer of the City of Mons. The 
Princess determined upon asking him, in the name 
of humanity, to help her take care of these suffer- 
ing men, and to treat them as though they were 
patients. But through fear of their being recog- 
nized by the Germans, she also requested a certain 
Monsieur Libies of Mons, a lawyer, to furnish 
them with bogus cards of identity bearing as- 
sumed names of Belgian citizens. Meanwhile, the 
Princess de Croy, in the same manner as Miss 
Thuilliez, had discovered several groups of these 
wounded or exhausted soldiers at Wiheries, a 
small village in the neighborhood of Mons. She, 
together with the Countess de Belleville, also 
asked a pharmacist of Paturage, by the name of 
George Derveau, to assist them in their under- 
taking. 

After having come to a decision as to what was 
best to be done, they set to work, and succeeded in 
gathering together divers groups of refugee- 
soldiers whom by degrees they conducted to the 
home of Miss Cavell, in the "Rue de la Culture," 
at Ixelles, which place served as the central point 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 6i 

of their reunion. These disabled and war-worn 
men were brought to our place through the fol- 
lowing intermediaries : The men were first led 
by Miss Thuilliez to the Princess of Croy's 
chateau in Bellignies, France; they were then 
taken to the house of a civil engineer named 
Capiau, by Monsieur Derveau, in whose house 
the fugitives obtained their bogus cards of iden- 
tity. They were afterward conducted by various 
individuals of Mons, among whom were Madame 
Saduere-Tellier, Jeanne Dubuison, and others 
whose names have escaped my memory. 

By reason of the great danger of their being 
discovered in the small dwellings of these per- 
sons, the Princess de Croy, who was personally 
well acquainted with Miss Cavell, and had 
through the medium of Monsieur Bancq in- 
formed Madame of these undertakings, agreed 
with the latter to have the needy men brought to 
her place. This Mr. Bancq and a Mr. Severin 
had previously consented to receive these wounded 
fugitives in their own homes in Brussels, until 
Miss Cavell could find room for them in her 
"clinique." There was also a Mme. Ada Bodart, 
of Brussels, who had in the same way given 
refuge to some of these unfortunates, whom she, 



62 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

too, kept with her until Madame Cavell was ready 
to receive them. 

These groups of tired and disabled soldiers 
soon began to arrive at our ''clinique" in the ''rue 
de la Culture," all brought there by Mile. Thuil- 
liez. After they had received proper treatment 
from us and when they had sufficiently recovered 
from their wounds, or their fatigue, they were 
sent away to a place of safety in the direction of 
Holland. Upon leaving Miss Cavell's home, these 
men were placed in the charge of the Belgian 
guide, Gilles. This trusty man managed to con- 
duct his charges as far as Antwerp, where another 
guide would relieve him of his responsibility and 
lead them to Turnhout, a village on the Dutch 
frontier, over which by means of certain men and 
women, to whom they were directed, and through 
the payment of the sum of one hundred francs, 
they were safely led into Holland. They found no 
difficulty in paying their way across the border, 
since they had been plentifully furnished with 
money for that purpose by the generosity of Miss 
Cavell herself, and of Mr. Severin, of Brussels, 
and many other brave and kind people. 

Directly these fugitives got into Holland, they 
were at liberty. Once there, many of them found 
their way to England or to France, where those 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 63 

among them that were not disabled, might again 
take their places in their respective armies. 

Such were the events that had happened during 
the first stages of the war, leading to the advent 
of the exhausted soldiers at our *'clinique," — all 
which occurrences ''Madame" related to me in her 
usual calm and dignified manner, as she took me 
into her confidence. Everything she said con- 
tributed towards showing me how strong this 
astonishing organization for the saving of 
refugees' lives really was; though I, myself, at 
that time, could not fully comprehend it. 

When Madame had told me all that she thought 
important for me to know, she further showed 
her trust in me by adding that she considered me 
as her friend and partner in this undertaking, and 
also cautioned me against speaking of it to the 
other nurses. She then left me, and I went to 
the small room to see to the nine men, all weak 
and exhausted, that had been placed under our 
care. These men, already mentioned above, 
seemed to be in a pitiable state, indeed, and they 
were far more depressed in mind than the two 
English soldiers whom we had first received. 
However, we had orders to do the best we could 
to cheer them and to make them feel as comfort- 
able and as happy as we possibly could. All this 



64 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

gave us much extra work, but we all did our best 
to fulfill our duty in the cause of suffering 
humanity, and also to please ''Madame." 

What I have to relate now may at first glance 
seem trivial, and gossipy, but it is necessary for 
me to state it, as it led to serious consequences. 
It is as follows : 

When we had succeeded in restoring these poor 
men to health, and had dressed them in clean 
clothes, they appeared so much changed and at- 
tractive that they could not fail to impress one 
with their youthful, manly air. It happened that 
one of our nurses, a young and pretty Russian 
girl, by the name of Dora Betsis, who had 
helped in the nursing of two of these young 
English lads, suddenly seemed to grow very fond 
of them, and they in their turn, showed a great 
liking for her, to the extent of being jealous of 
each other. They both manifested their affec- 
tion for her by writing verses and other trivial 
thoughts in her autograph album, and they even 
signed their real names to these inscriptions. All 
this seemed innocent enough, to us all, and in all 
probability it was so intended by these young 
men; but it was a very dangerous thing to do, in 
these war times, and we eventually had to pay a 
terribly dear price for this most imprudent act. 



THE FIRST REFUGEE 65 

However, nothing immediately happened, for 
when they were well enough to go away from us, 
they, like those that had gone before, were, one 
cold, frosty morning, at four o'clock, led to an- 
other place of safety by "Madame," and Jose, and 
her good dog, Jack. 

The nights had been growing gradually colder 
during these several trips, and Miss Cavell ap- 
peared more thin and frail after each of them, 
and it seemed to me that for a woman of her 
age, these chilly morning trips did not benefit her 
health in any degree. But who can tell what was 
passing in her mind, and the extent of suffering 
this proud and charitable soul was undergoing 
in her sad and painful solitary struggles amidst 
these scenes and people that she had loved so 
well? 

When, at six o'clock, she returned from her 
trip, she quietly took her place at the head of our 
breakfast table, where the meals were beginning 
to diminish in quantity as well as in quality. 
But, I am sorry to say, our young nurses didn't 
seem to realize the amount of fatigue Madame 
had to endure in these early morning tramps with 
the recuperated men; but one could notice the ill 
effects of them, by the increased depths of the 
lines about her mouth, when, with a clear search- 



66 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

ing gaze she glanced around at the assembled 
nurses to convince herself that they were all 
right. 

From day to day, many more men came to our 
place, conducted there by Mile. Thuilliez, most 
of the time, though some of them were brought 
there by Gilles, the trusty guide. We continued 
to care for these unfortunate soldiers in spite 
of the fact that more proclamations had, in the 
meantime, been made to the Belgian people, for- 
bidding them to either help or harbor any French 
or English fugitive soldiers. We thought that 
it was our duty as hospital nurses to care for 
these patients, and we were also impelled to do 
so through our love for our mistress, whom we 
wished to help in her highly humanitarian and 
charitable work, without troubling her with any 
considerations of money matters. 

At times, however, Madame, seeing our fatigue, 
would advise us to go for a walk in the fresh air, 
and she would sometimes send me with a letter to 
Mr. Severin's house, a trip which gave me a 
greatly needed change. 

The reader must not imagine that all these 
comings and goings could go on unobserved by 
everybody. It was not long before the Com- 
mittee of our "Clinique" began to suspect that 



THE FIRST REFUGEE (^J 

something unusual was occurring in the "rue de 
la Culture." But as Mme. DePage, one of its 
members, who was personally interested in Miss 
Cavell's enterprise, seemed to have a share in the 
wounded refugee- work, they did not dare to in- 
terfere with it, though, as I later learned, they 
highly disapproved of it all. 

During all this period, the buildings of the 
New Clinique went on under construction, and 
Madame went still, from time to time, to view 
their progress. She had so longed for their com- 
pletion, and for days and days she had spoken 
of them to us, telling us how much cleaner and 
brighter the new home would be and how much 
easier our tasks would be. 

This was towards the end of December, 1914. 
By this time, our friends in the Metropohs were 
becoming more and more excited, and indignant 
against the tyrannical invaders. On every occa- 
sion the City of Brussels was forced to pay great 
sums of money on account of these manifesta- 
tions of ill will on the part of its citizens against 
the foe. These fines only served to increase our 
hatred for our hard task-masters. 



CHAPTER IV 

CHRISTMAS I914 

About Christmas time of this same year we 
had received several more men in our "clinique." 
Among these was a certain EngHsh commanding 
officer. I had never seen such a handsome, noble 
looking face as his, among all those men who 
had come to our home. He soon became a great 
favorite with everybody, and was the ideal of 
the nurses, and he also seemed to have become 
the right hand of Miss Cavell, in directing the 
other men, and in organizing parties and enter- 
tainments for the Christmas holidays. He took 
much interest in these events, and personally 
assisted in their preparation. It was he who gave 
Madame the idea of asking some homeless chil- 
dren of the city schools to share our Christmas 
dinner. This she did, and when the festive day 
arrived we had as many as fifty children in our 
home, and all of them with hungry stomachs and 
big shining eyes, looking covetously at the many 

68 



CHRISTMAS 1914 69 

good things spread before them on our tables. It 
was also this handsome, gallant officer who opened 
the dining room doors to these expectant young 
ones and conducted them each to their chairs, 
giving them all a hearty welcome. He then took 
his place at the head of the table, next to that 
of Madame. When the children and the rest of 
those who were present had done justice to our 
hostess' hospitality, this English officer, whose 
command of our language was not very great, 
made us a short speech with a very marked British 
accent. He told us how solemn and beautiful the 
occasion seemed to him, and his brother soldiers, 
united as they were under our friendly and hos- 
pitable roof; and how grateful they were to us. 
We could not refrain from a thrill of emotion 
when, with overflowing souls the Englishmen 
with one breath loudly exclaimed, "God bless you 
all!" 

Everything went off splendidly, and the festiv- 
ities ended by everybody joining in singing the 
British National Hymn of *'God Save the King!" 

At midnight the children returned to their 
homes, with their stomachs well filled, and with 
happy and grateful hearts. Thus was the ordinary 
routine and drudgery of our lives relieved by a 
few happy moments like these. 



70 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

These pleasant moments would soon be sad- 
dened, however, by the sudden departure of our 
newly acquired guests. So it happened in the 
case of our good-hearted British officer, for, on 
the very next day, at four o'clock in the morn- 
ing, he, like the others had done before him, left 
our hospitable ''clinique" under the guidance of 
Miss Cavell and Jose. I never heard of him since, 
nor did I ever even know his name, and though 
he had promised to write to us, his longed-for 
post card, which was to tell us of his safe arrival 
in Holland, never reached us. 

Life in Brussels was becoming more and more 
miserable, through the vexatious measures of the 
Germans, who showed us much hatred, and did 
everything they possibly could to make our Bel- 
gian people feel oppressed and unhappy. 

During the Christmas and the New Year's 
holidays, too, when every one usually tries to be 
happier than at another time, and when their 
hearts are filled with hope for the future, this 
ill-treatment seemed all the more difficult to bear. 
Some of these acts were preposterous ! When 
we think that merely because a German invader 
had heard an innocent child sing a Belgian folk- 
song they tyrannically imposed a fine of 50,000 
francs upon the city of Brussels. Added to this 



CHRISTMAS 1914 71 

affront, from the first of January, 191 5, it was 
forbidden for the citizens of that city to venture 
out of their homes after seven o'clock in the 
evening. Furthermore, all the gas mains and the 
electric lighting plants were cut off, so that the 
poor inhabitants were left without light other 
than that of candles; and to make matters still 
worse, the principal reservoirs of the Belgian 
metropolis had been emptied of their contents, 
thus leaving the people without good drinking 
water. 

Everything seemed so sad, but in spite of it 
all, the staunch Belgian people were still highly 
optimistic, and continued to labor under the belief 
that their troubles and vexations woujld soon 
cease. Notwithstanding their predicament, how- 
ever, the good people managed to find a secluded 
place in which to talk about their country's woes. 
I recollect, that when I went to visit my friends 
and my family, on the occasion of the New Year, 
I discovered them hidden in their cellars, under 
the light of a tallow candle, gathered around a 
table upon which were a few bottles of Belgian 
beer. Here they continued to keep the flame of 
the old Flemish spirit brightly burning. These 
good-natured and kind-hearted people had re- 
mained unchanged through it all! Though they 



y2 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

were very sad at their unhappy fate, they still 
looked forward to better times! Galled and op- 
pressed as these people were, they had to dissimu- 
late their resentment, but notwithstanding the 
fact that under their troubles they continued to 
show a happy child-like smile on their face and 
a kindly beam in their gentle blue eyes, the Ger- 
man Governor knew full well that he had no 
mere children to deal with in the Belgian people. 

Of all the cities which have been severely pun- 
ished by these Germans, I believe that Brussels 
was the one that suffered the most. 

On the third of this same month, things were 
a little better, but we still remembered the un- 
pleasant cold and dark days which we had gone 
through. 

Quite a number of English soldiers, many of 
whom were unwounded, continued to come to our 
place, and we busied ourselves as ever, in caring 
for them and in mending their soiled clothes. We 
endeavored in every way to cheer them and to 
set them on their feet again. Our *'clinique" in 
the "rue de la Culture" remained all this time quiet 
and forgotten. The Germans up to this time 
had not suspected that our little home was lodging 
such great enemies. But this state of things 
could not last like that forever. It happened, at 



CHRISTMAS 1914 73 

times, that some of our young men, feeling the 
need of fresh air, would imprudently venture out- 
doors, where passers-by could see them seated 
in arm chairs at the front door, enjoying the 
early morning air and the bright sunshine. This 
was an innocent enough act, on their part, but 
it was fraught with much danger to us and to 
themselves, for in so doing they ran great risk 
of being recognized by the Germans, because 
those English soldiers could not dissimulate the 
hatred that showed in their eyes as they beheld 
any straggling enemies' soldiers, which could not 
fail to be noticed by the latter and arouse their 
suspicion. Madame was not slow to perceive the 
danger they incurred, and she decided to keep 
these men more confined, to screen them from the 
public gaze; and she would only permit them, in 
fine weather, to go for a short walk, accompanied 
by Jose. 

Up to the end of January nothing of note had 
happened. Miss Thuilliez came at regular in- 
tervals, bringing men and news with her to our 
*'clinique," where things were going on all right. 
Madame had taken some extra help. She had 
hired a woman and two girls, to aid us in the 
kitchen and in the housework. 

In the month of February several French sol- 



74 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

diers came to us, and we treated them with as 
much care and attention as we had the others, and 
soon nursed them back to heaUh, aided in this 
by the fine weather and the cold bracing air. It 
was not long before they began to show their 
GalHc temperament by becoming restless and 
venturesome. They took short walks in the 
neighborhood, and as your French soldier, like 
his Belgian brother, is very fond of a glass or 
so of wine, it was not very long, either, before 
they spied a snug little cafe in the rue de la 
Culture, with the sign ''Chez Jules" over the door. 
They did not fail to enter, you may be sure, and 
indulge in their favorite beverage. Very soon 
the English soldiers also got wind of it, and 
would often accompany the Frenchmen, promis- 
ing to behave themselves and not betray their 
identity. Madame did not mistrust them, and per- 
mitted them to go. But her suspicions and her 
fear were aroused when one of these Englishmen 
came home in an advanced state of intoxication. 
You can easily imagine how shocked Madame felt 
about it, and how imprudent and dangerous it 
must have seemed to her! Moreover, she was 
powerless to hinder it. She had the man con- 
fined to the house; but, I, myself, saw this par- 
ticular soldier, whom we had carefully hidden 



CHRISTMAS 1914 75 

away from the peering eyes of strangers and 
enemies, talking aloud and drinking wine in an 
ordinary cafe. Who could tell whether some 
silent agent of the enemy might not be seated 
in such a place? If such a man were there he 
could not fail to notice the difference between the 
vivacious exclamations of the French soldiers 
and the slow, drawling accent of his British com- 
panions, with their broad smiles; and contrast 
both of these with the Belgians around them. 
With these doings, it was not long, you may be 
sure, before the whole neighborhood knew that 
Miss Cavell was harboring French and English 
soldiers under her roof. 

When the time came for these men to depart 
for Holland, we were glad because we were com- 
mencing to fear that they might bring trouble 
upon us; and it actually happened, one or two 
days afterward, while I was taking the air in one 
of the streets near our "clinique," that I noticed 
two German officers who seemed to look at me 
very closely. This made me feel nervous, know- 
ing as I did that our place was full of English 
soldiers. 

I began to keenly realize the danger we were 
incurring in harboring them. Notwithstanding, I 
endeavored to assure myself that there was 



y6 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

nothing to fear, that perhaps my imagination was 
getting the better of me. 

An important event, causing much sorrow to 
us, happened in the month of March. From the 
beginning of hostihties to the present time, the 
Saint Gilles' Hospital had been occupied by our 
own Belgian sick, and during that interval these 
patients, as we have already said, had been treated 
by many of our own nurses. But, as was always 
the case with them, the German invaders requi- 
sitioned the Brussels hospitals for their own sick 
and wounded, and it was not long before all the 
Belgian patients were transferred to the St. 
Jean's Hospital in that city. It also followed 
that all our nurses were, on account of this, 
left without work, a thing which made them 
very unhappy. In hard times like these, too, it 
was very difficult, if not impossible, for them to 
obtain another situation. Upon hearing of their 
misfortune, Madame bade the nurses not to worry 
about it, and moreover, promised to help them. 
She allowed them to remain with us; this in- 
creased the number of our personnel in our 
already overcrowded house, and also had for 
effect the rapid diminution in our food allowance. 

During the same month, Madame Marie De- 
Page left Belgium for America, to seek help for 



CHRISTMAS 1914 17 

the wounded soldiers at La Panne and at Verdun. 
She bid good-bye to Madame with tears stream- 
ing down her cheeks. Did she already feel that 
this was to be the last time that she would see 
both her unhappy country and her most intimate 
friend? 

She left us all after saying farewell, and soon 
sailed on one of the Belgian Sea boats. 

Madame sent ten of the nurses that had lately 
arrived, to France, with the intention of having 
them help in taking care of the many wounded 
on the *'Yser." She conducted these nurses in 
person to Antwerp, where, in an humble farm 
house, a room was in readiness for them. On 
the following day she went with them as far as 
the town of Turnhout. And here an incident 
occurred which set forth in a beautiful light the 
pious nature of this noble hearted and charitable 
woman. When about to take leave of her charges 
whom she loved so well, she reverently knelt 
down on the muddy earth of Flanders and gave 
them her parting blessing. 

When, a day later, she returned to our 
humble *'clinique" she seemed broken hearted. 
She also appeared to worry because she had not 
been able to find any food supplies to meet the 



78 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

wants of the lately increased number of inmates 
of her household. 

We nurses who had remained faithfully with 
her now began to feel the evil effects of these 
very hard times. We were greatly in need of 
money, too, and of many of the necessaries of 
daily life. We hardly dared, however, to tell 
Madame of this, because we well knew that she 
had enough troubles of her own, about which to 
worry without adding to them by relating ours. 

I thought that I had hit upon a plan to gain 
money, I decided to give French lessons. With 
this intention, one day, when I had two hours' 
leave, I hastened to a book store to see if I could 
find any one who would be desirous of learning 
the language. Upon reaching the place, and 
looking anxiously for notices with a list of names 
of such as might want lessons, what was my 
surprise to find that nobody in Brussels was rich 
enough to afford to take French lessons ! I went 
back home feeling sad and disappointed. The 
thought had not occurred to me at that time, that 
the Germans would not have allowed any one to 
even speak French. 

As we were young girls and were very much 
occupied with our English soldiers, we had little 
leisure to worry over such privations. We had 



CHRISTMAS 1914 79 

recourse to the piano and to songs, both of which 
came in use to keep up the good humor of our 
guests. Much of our attention was also en- 
grossed by applying ourselves to the learning of 
English from them. 

The kitchen servants became interested in 
these men, and I may mention in passing, that 
the cook's daughter, a young girl who had not 
been very long with us, suddenly began a flirta- 
tion with one of them. I well remember when we 
warned Madame of it, how shocked and annoyed 
she w^as at such behavior on the part of one of 
her servants. 

In the month of May, we received quite a 
number of soldiers at a time, and among these 
there was one who informed us that he was of 
Polish origin. He became very ill while with 
us, and Madame was often at his bedside. For 
more than three weeks he remained with us and 
we often saw him occupied in writing. 

After Miss Cavell had conducted him to Gilles, 
the guide and he went elsewhere, we found on 
the floor of his room a German letter in which 
this boy had written that Madame's house was 
a good one, but that he could not do anything that 
was required of him to do. 

When we heard about this letter being found, 



8o WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

the thought suddenly occurred to us that we had 
been harboring a spy in our home ! But through 
the kind treatment of Madame he had evidently 
changed his mind about betraying us. 

I now felt certain enough that we were known 
to our German enemies. I told Madame about 
the letter, but she didn't seem to be much im- 
pressed about it for, as yet, she had not fully 
grasped its meaning. 

A few days later she sent me, together with 
one of the nurses, for a day's leave. We both 
decided upon going to town to see the movies. 
Our supply of money was very limited, so we 
walked in hunger through the streets of Brussels, 
where the animation was great. Several marked 
changes had, however, taken place since my last 
visit. The one that struck me the most was the 
desolate condition in which the beautiful Palace 
of Justice appeared to us. This handsome build- 
ing was boarded up all around and German flags 
were everywhere to be seen. 

Another sight that caused the blood to freeze 
in our young veins, was that of the many notices 
with ^'Verboten" on them, pasted on the city 
walls ; for we could not fail to see over a hundred 
of them, warning the citizens against harboring 
an English or French soldier under pain of death. 



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82 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

Signs of oppression were to be seen every- 
where, and many were the frightened faces that 
I met in the lower part of Brussels, where I 
learned that several persons, ignorant of having 
done wrong, had been recently punished, only for 
wearing a sprig of green holly on their dresses. 

We went to the movies, where in a cheap place 
we viewed an American film. It was very inter- 
esting, indeed, and it made us forget for a while 
the unhappy conditions of the outside world. It 
was rather late, and far past the regulation hour 
when we reached home. The night-nurse opened 
the door, and bade us make no noise. "Madame 
is already abed," the nurse said, "and it would be 
best for us to go to our rooms without attract- 
ing her attention." We decided to go in our 
stocking feet, and taking off our shoes, we car- 
ried them in our hands, as with rapidly beating 
hearts we cautiously mounted the crooked stairs, 
for we were ashamed to be late, and sorry to dis- 
please Madame, who had placed much trust in us. 

It was very dark on the stairs as we mounted, 
and when we were about half way up I felt some- 
thing touch me against the wall. Before I realized 
what it could be, I heard Madame's voice saying, 
"Put on your shoes, my children; I'm afraid you 
will catch cold." In my fear and excitement, I 



CHRISTMAS 1914 83 

let both my shoes drop on my feet, which hurt me 
much, but I did not dare to cry out. We went 
to our room feehng sheepish and tired. 

The next day we were called quite early to 
Madame's office, where, after asking us to ex- 
plain ourselves. Miss Cavell mildly admonished 
us, and warned us in future to be more prudent 
and to take care of our reputations. At first we 
did not attach much importance to these words, 
but, later on, we fully realized what they meant. 

One evening in the month of June, shortly after 
supper, I went out for a walk in the streets im- 
mediately around our home. Madame was stand- 
ing in the middle of a field before the ''clinique," 
where some poor people had for several days been 
busy planting potatoes. Madame went very often 
to look at them, and gave them some kind words 
of encouragement. Pauline was also standing 
by her, w^hile Jack, the dog, was lazily lying on 
the grass. 

While I was walking in the ''rue de Berken- 
dael," a tall, handsome man asked me where the 
''Edith Cavell Clinique" was situated. The man's 
accent was of the most beautiful French that one 
could possibly hear, and his manners were those 
of a well-educated well-bred gentleman. He ex- 
plained to me that he was a French soldier, and 



84 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

that he was looking for a hiding place for himself 
and a friend of his. I do not know what urged 
me to do so, but I gave him the wrong direction, 
and continued my walk; but while I was turning 
around a corner, I chanced to look backward. 
There was the French officer following me. Upon 
noticing that I was aware of his movements, he 
crossed to the other side of the street, where a 
man in a gray summer coat was standing. He 
spoke a few words to this individual, and then 
pointed with his finger to where Miss Cavell was 
standing in the very same street where the potato 
field was located. There was something ill-boding 
in this man's look and gesture, and, in my heart, I 
felt that all was not right. 

Not knowing what else to do, I instantly ran 
toward Madame, feeling very nervous, and all 
in a tremble. I told her that a man whom she 
herself could see, was asking after her and the 
place where her *'clinique" was. I added, that I 
was certain that he was a spy. She only laughed 
at this, and said that I always saw spies every- 
where, and turning away she, together with 
Pauline, walked toward the entrance door. 

In the meantime, the two men also approached 
the doorway, and I noticed that Madame let them 
enter the house. I was much worried at it all. 



CHRISTMAS 1914 85 

Even Jack, the dog, raised up his head and ap- 
peared to be restless. We both approached the 
house together when the dog began to be very 
much upset. A few minutes later I was called to 
Madame's office, where she presented me to 
them both; the one as a Monsieur Gaston Quin, 
and the other as a Mr. X, an Englishman. She 
asked me to look after Mr. Quin, and to put him 
in a room where there was a French soldier who 
had just arrived the night before, and had been 
comfortably installed. The other man, whom we 
called Mr. X, for lack of a better name, was 
placed in a room where several English soldiers 
were talking and smoking together. 

Monsieur Quin was, as we have said, a typical 
Frenchman with perfect manners, and beautiful 
language. He was tall and very slender, his 
visage was adorned with what we call a Bourbon 
nose and his blue eyes were keen, yet soft and 
kindly in expression. It was not very long before 
all the nurses fell head-over-heels in love with 
him, but as they were very closely watched by 
Madame, they did not dare to show any outward 
signs of their infatuation. 

The next day, the Frenchman told us that he 
did not feel well enough to leave for Holland. 
So Madame decided to keep him under our care 



86 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

for a week or two more. But early the next morn- 
ing she conducted his friend and the others to 
Gilles, the guide, as was her wont. So that 
Monsieur Gaston Quin remained with us, and 
became the charge of all the women. Perceiving 
that he could obtain anything he desired of them, 
he requested them to accompany him for a walk 
when they were off duty. He seemed very friendly 
to little Pauline Randell; her broken French and 
pretty face made a strong impression upon him. 
He asked her also to go out walking with him; 
which she did, I believe, but it was only once. 

Leonie, the cook's daughter, was in love with 
him, too, and even Jose, who had been married 
for some time, introduced Quin to his humble 
family. When Jose's first child was born about 
this time, its mother gave it the name of "Gas- 
ton," Monsieur Quin's first name. This gentle- 
man became very friendly with the poor people 
who worked in the fields over the way, and it 
seemed to me that he had many conversations 
together with them that must have been of interest 
to himself. He seemed hail-fellow-well-met with 
every one. But as I detested him from the very 
beginning, and was much prejudiced against him, 
I could not share in the general good will and 
liking that was shown to him. I attributed my 



CHRISTMAS 1914 87 

dislike for him to be the effect of an excited 
imagination. 

The guide Gilles came in a few days after and 
appeared to be extremely nervous. He asked to 
see Madame, at once, and while he was waiting 
for her, he was seen by Monsieur Quin, who eyed 
him in a very peculiar manner. Gilles informed 
Madame that Mr. X, the so-called Englishman, 
had suddenly disappeared from the group of men 
he had lately conducted to Antwerp, and he as- 
sured her that he suspected the man was a spy. 

Gilles departed, but not before he warned us 
to keep a good watch on the street, and also 
upon every one who came into our house. 

That very evening we saw three strangers talk- 
ing to the people in the opposite field. Leonie, the 
maid, was out with Mr. Quin for the whole after- 
noon, and a German officer, in his brilliant uni- 
form, came to our ''clinique" to ask for a vacant 
room for his son, who was very ill. All these 
incidents seemed rather suspicious to me, and the 
sudden entrance of the above mentioned officer 
caused Pauline and myself to tremble with fear, 
as it did all the other nurses. But after having 
talked with Madame, towards whom he behaved 
very politely, we noticed that He left the house 
without giving any signs of wishing to inspect 



88 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

the premises; moreover, he did not even speak to 
any of us. 

The next day Madame again called me to her 
office, handed me a letter for Monsieur Bancq, 
but without any address upon the envelope, and 
bade me deliver it, remarking that it was very 
important. We had done the same thing several 
times before, without realizing what a dangerous 
thing it was to do. Even now, I thought nothing 
of it, and readily agreed to do it again. 

While on my way to deliver it, I was walking 
along the Chaussee de Waterloo, where I met the 
ubiquitous Monsieur Quin. He had a cane in 
his hand, which he swiftly twirled around his 
fingers as he advanced. Approaching me, he 
asked me if he could have the pleasure of treat- 
ing me to a glass of wine in a near-by cafe. This 
I politely refused, and gave him as an excuse that 
I had not the time to accept his invitation. I 
abruptly left him, and continued on my way with- 
out giving him any further thought. What was 
my surprise, when at the Porte de Schaerbeek, I 
saw him again, going in the direction of Mon- 
sieur Bancq's house. This time he did not look 
at me, but suddenly disappeared into one of the 
side streets, where there was a young girl await- 
ing him. 



CHRISTMAS 1914 89 

I began to feel uneasy, and was wondering if 
something evil was going to happen. A few 
blocks further on, as I happened to turn around, 
I noticed that a man had been following me 
since my last meeting with Mr. Quin. At first, I 
thought that this new individual was one of our 
Belgian boys, who had taken a fancy to me and, 
as is the Belgian custom, wished to accompany 
me on my way. Wishing to verify this, I stopped 
at a store window and pretended to be gazing at 
something inside. The man came up toward me, 
passed by without giving me a look, and also 
disappeared in one of the by-streets. When I had 
nearly reached Mr. Banrq's house, I again noticed 
this same individual talking with a German 
officer. I was afraid to go into Mr. Bancq's 
house, and, not to create suspicion, I decided in- 
stead to go to that of one of my friends. While 
on my way there I was followed all the time by 
this same fellow. 

At my friend's home, everything was in a 
state of commotion. Just three hours before I 
came, the husband and the father had been ar- 
rested by the German police. It had become known 
to the latter that these two members of my friend's 
family had given shelter to some French soldiers. 

Disappointed and anxious, I returned to our 



90 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

"clinique" in a melancholy mood. I did not even 
dare to mention any of these facts to Madame; 
I felt myself obliged to inform her that I 
had not delivered the letter to Mr. Bancq. Upon 
reaching the "clinique" I perceived Mr. Bancq 
himself, just as he was leaving our doorway. I 
was a little relieved at this, for I thought that 
possibly Madame would not ask me about the 
letter. I waited until the next day to return the 
letter, with the excuse that Mr. Bancq was not 
in and I did not dare to trust it with any one else. 
I do not recollect whether she paid much atten- 
tion to me, for at that moment she seemed greatly 
preoccupied. 

The following day the weather was calm and 
beautiful. Madame went, as usual, to visit the 
New Clinique, which by this time was nearing 
completion. It was always a source of great pleas- 
ure to her to watch its daily progress. In the 
afternoon of the same day she went to the people 
across the way, and distributed apples among them 
and helped them along in their work as much as 
she was able. 

Our house was, at this time, again filled with 
men-, and Mr. Quin was still the same much- 
admired hero as ever. I had noticed him, several 
times, in the company of Leonie, who seemed to 



CHRISTMAS 1914 91 

be very much in love with him. When, under 
the guidance of Madame and Jose, he finally left 
us for Holland, he seemed so sincerely sad at 
parting, that I actually felt sorry at having 
thought him so dishonest. 



CHAPTER V 



SUSPECTED 



On the tenth of June, Madame called us to- 
gether, to inform us that in the following month 
we were to move into our New Clinique. 

In the preparation for this event we were 
obliged to commence the furniture cleaning, and 
as Madame had no money to hire outside help, we 
had to do the work ourselves. This task gave the 
Englishmen, the Frenchmen and ourselves lots of 
sport working happily together. 

It happened, one afternoon, that Pauline came 
in looking white as a sheet, and informed us, in 
a low voice, that two German soldiers were in 
Miss Cavell's office. We were quite upset at this, 
and we scarcely knew what to do about it. I 
decided to go to the parlor where I might perhaps 
find out something from hearing the conversa- 
tion. Just as I reached the room, however, the 
two Germans left the house without even so much 
as looking around the place. Following them with 

92 



SUSPECTED 93 

my eyes, I saw them on the corner of the street 
talking to some of the people in the opposite 
field. I suddenly had a feeling that we were be- 
trayed — that everywhere spying eyes were lurking, 
and that the men whom we had so carefully con- 
cealed were now menaced with serious danger. 

At this juncture, Madame came out of her 
office, looking very pale. Instantly I ran up to 
her and asked her if all was well. With a wan 
expression upon her face, Miss Cavell told me 
that the two German soldiers had brought a letter 
from the German commander, in which it was 
stated that on May 7th, 191 5, Madame de Page 
had gone down with the 'Tusitania." That was 
all it said, nor had Miss Cavell anything to say re- 
garding my fears and suspicions. 

At this moment Gilles, the guide, came in, and 
I imparted to him the news which I had regard- 
ing the two German soldiers' visit. He burst out 
into a forced laugh, and told me in his expressive 
Flemish language, that he thought we really were 
in danger — that Madame would tell us nothing 
about it, through fear of causing us any anxiety. 
Such was her greatness of character that 
throughout all those days of trial and care, she 
had kept her own sorrow and troubles to herself. 
It remained for the sudden fatal news of the 



94 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

tragic death of Madame de Page to tear away the 
mask of stoic indifference from that heroically 
determined face. It was with a sad voice and 
tearful eyes that she related the sad news to us. 

We were all of us very unhappy about this sad 
event; for we had known the good-hearted lady 
very well. She had shown so much interest in our 
work, and now, without her to interest herself 
in us, we felt that we would be left all alone to 
incur the expenses of our undertaking, because 
all the other members of the committee were 
too much engrossed in their own affairs, or were, 
perhaps, too much annoyed by the Germans, to be 
of much help to us. 

We began to be less gay, now, and we even did 
not dare to talk too loudly. We were also sad- 
dened by the war news, which reached us from 
time to time. We could hear the noise of ex- 
ploding shells far away on the Yser River in 
Flanders. That was all the outside news we 
got, because nothing important was allowed to 
be published. But, we well knew that within a 
hundred feet from us, observant eyes were watch- 
ing us, and quick ears were listening. We fully 
realized this; but, strange as it may seem, we 
dared not tell it to each other. To increase our 
plight, the food was becoming more and more 



f^vmt^n HATvn 



12 Vovcmbre l«l» 



LA LIBRE iELGID'' 



p» 




First Page of Last Issues of the Famous 
Forbidden Paper 



SUSPECTED 95 

scarce; meat and eggs were unobtainable, and we 
were reduced to the necessity of subsisting only 
upon bread and salads. 

We went on, however, cleaning our furniture 
and preparing everything for moving day, con- 
stantly dreaming of our future New Clinique. 
This week, too, as was not very often the case, 
we were all alone, for there were no English or 
French soldiers with us to lend us a helping hand. 

Mademoiselle Thuilliez had not yet returned, 
and Gilles was out with some other men that he 
was probably conducting to Antwerp. All that 
week, danger seemed to be lurking around every 
nook and corner of our dwelling; but, like 
thoughtless children, we too easily forgot our 
fears and sorrows. 

On the twentieth of June, about ten o'clock in 
the morning, Madame received a visit from two 
men who spoke to her in English. They asked 
to see the house, stating that they wanted to rent 
the place after we had moved out. This sounded 
plausible enough to us, but I saw Madame's face 
become as pale as a sheet, as she allowed the 
strangers to enter. When they were mounting 
the stairs. Sister Wilkins noticed that one of the 
men wore army shoes, and had eyeglasses of Ger- 



96 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

man manufacture. She called little Mania 
Waschausky's, a young nurse, attention to it, 
and the latter recognized the fact. Both of the 
women became uneasy, when showing the men 
one of the rooms, where many English mag- 
azines and a few numbers of the "Libre Bel- 
gique" newspaper were carelessly left lying 
around. But the two men seemed not to notice 
all these details; and although they went through 
all the rooms, and looked casually at every corner 
of the house, yet they showed no desire of making 
a special inspection of the cupboards and ward- 
robes. When we reached the bathrooms they ex- 
amined the tanks. Madame was standing at the 
entrance of the room. Sister Wilkins and I were 
in one corner. Opposite the bath tub was a 
mirror and in that mirror I could plainly see the 
reflection of an English cap, which had carelessly 
been thrown into one corner of the room. At 
the sight of this object the blood seemed suddenly 
to stop in my veins — the room to swim round and 
round in my head. But no one noticed what I 
saw, and the two men soon left the room, en- 
gaged in deep conversation. Had they also 
noticed the cap? Who could tell? 

After they had gone, Madame appeared rest- 



SUSPECTED 97 

less, and for the first time I noticed how ex- 
tremely thin she looked. I questioned her about 
these visitors, but she only said that they had 
been sent to her by her own landlord. That was 
all I could find out about them. 

I did not dare to mention anything to her con- 
cerning the state of her health, or her sorrows. 
But remarking the extreme pallor of her cheeks, I 
ventured to ask her if I could help. She merely 
said, ''You are a good girl. I am all right. Go 
back to your work, now, because, in a few days, 
we shall be able to move into our new home." 

In spite of her calmness, we were all of us 
very much puzzled about the visit of these two 
men ; but as we were busy about our house-moving 
and had plenty of work to think of, we soon for- 
got them. 

On the 7th of July we received nine soldiers, all 
of whom were English. They had come in the 
night time and, as always, we gave them food 
and clothing. We warned them to keep quiet 
and not to go outdoors. So that, most of the 
time, they were assembled in one of our large 
rooms situated just behind Madame's office. This 
room was in house No. 149, and it had a door 
which led out to a small garden. It was also con- 







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100 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

nected by a basement passageway, with houses 
No. 147, No. 145 and No. 143. 

On the afternoon of the ninth of the same 
month, we were occupied in house No. 147, from 
which place it was not very easy to see what might 
be happening in No. 149. We were all talking 
together, at the time, but were suddenly dis- 
turbed in the middle of our conversation by the 
entrance of Pauline, who was making signs to 
us with her fingers at her lips, for us to be silent 
as, trembling with fear, she told us in a low tone 
that two Germans were in Miss Cavell's office, and 
that two others were outside the entrance door. 
In a second we saw the danger that the English- 
men were in, and we were ready to give our lives 
to help those men in that room behind the office 
in which the German police were making an in- 
spection. 

We were, in all, five girls with Sister Wilkins. 
Three of us went through the basement to the 
room where the men were in such great danger. 
The other two girls went out into the street, to 
talk with the two Germans outside. Only one 
girl remained in Number 145. 

When we came to the room, the English sol- 
diers were engaged in reading and talking. 
Sister Wilkins, who was with the three girls, put 



SUSPECTED loi 

her finger to her lips to enjoin silence, and 
motioned for them to follow her without delay. 
The men saw by the expression of our faces that 
something unusual had happened, and, quicker 
than you can imagine it, they hastened after us 
into the basement. We opened the little door that 
led to the small garden, through which we helped 
the unfortunate men to make their escape. Once 
in the garden, they could easily jump over the 
stone wall and get into an empty house on the 
other side of it, that did not belong to us. The 
men were not slow to understand us, and before 
I could realize what was happening, they were 
gone. 

For the moment, the danger was past, but who 
could tell what would happen next? What could 
the men do without Jose or Gilles for a guide? 
How could they get along without a knowledge 
of French in a country in the hands of the 
enemy ? 

These thoughts flashed upon us like lightning, 
and Sister Wilkins went to Jose to ask him to 
roam about the streets to see if there was any 
possibility of doing something for the men in the 
vacant house. 

Meanwhile, Miss Waschausky, Paula Van 
Bockstaele and I gathered together the different 



102 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

magazines, and were intending to put them under 
the bathtub. While we were carrying these 
precious objects in our arms, we were suddenly 
caught in the grasp of strong arms, and were 
told in a severe tone that we had forbidden objects 
in our possession. Trembling with fear, not so 
much for ourselves as for the nine men in the 
next house, we were at a loss what to do, so we 
burst into tears. 

Madame was detained in her office by the two 
Germans, while the other two took us in charge — 
making us carry all the books and papers we had 
in our arms, they conducted us to the class-room, 
where they began to make an inspection of them. 
They had not been long making their examina- 
tion of these periodicals which we had wished to 
conceal when they were interrupted by the en- 
trance of one of the two men outside with a 
message in German. I began to realize that 
something had to be done by me, if I wished to 
discover something concerning these men. To 
effect this, I managed to get a step or two nearer 
them. You can imagine how great was my sur- 
prise upon noticing from my new position that 
the face of the man who had just entered was 
that of the very same fellow that had come to us 
the week before to wish to rent the place ! I felt 



SUSPECTED 103 

so angry and disgusted at this flagrant act of 
treason on his part that I actually felt as though 
I could have killed the man had I only been 
armed. 

Not finding anything so very compromising in 
the papers we had, the Germans decided to leave 
us to ourselves. 

At this juncture, poor Sister Wilkins, whose 
nerves had been so upset by what had so sud- 
denly occurred, sank into a chair and burst out 
sobbing hysterically. The strain had been too 
much, and it had broken her naturally proud, 
calm, English spirit. We tried our best to 
comfort her, but all in vain, for her poor 
mind was in such a state that she did not under- 
stand our friendly intentions toward her. So we 
left her alone, and turned our attention to 
Madame. In this kind lady's office, everything 
was in disorder, the cruel intruders had rum- 
maged every object that caught their gaze, and 
had strewn it along with others upon the floor. 
They had even taken Miss Cavell's family por- 
traits from off the walls, torn them from their 
frames and thrown them, rent and crumpled, on 
the heap of ruins together with many other 
family souvenirs. In the room in which the nine 
Englishmen had been an hour before, everything, 



104 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

too, had been wrenched from the walls, and the 
inspectors had been in such haste to discover the 
whereabouts of the fugitive soldiers that they 
had even smashed some of the windows. The Ger- 
mans were now engaged in a thorough search of 
the entire "clinique." Every nook and corner, 
every cupboard and closet, was carefully ran- 
sacked by them. When they had finished their 
inspection, they proceeded to question the maids 
so minutely and so often that they made the poor 
creatures very nervous and frightened. They 
burst into tears and were unfit to answer any 
questions. 

During this interval, I managed to glide noise- 
lessly to one of the attics to look into the street, 
with the hopes of seeing Jose. They had asked 
for Jose several times before, perhaps they 
guessed that he was helping in some of those acts 
that they qualified as forbidden. Glancing out 
of the window, I saw the other two Germans 
looking about them probably with the same inten- 
tion. My heart beat loud and fast with excite- 
ment; but I was powerless to do anything! After 
watching the street for a short while, I caught 
a glimpse of Jose, but he was without the English 
soldiers. I inferred from this that he had seen 
the two inspectors, and had very prudently left 



SUSPECTED 105 

the men he was with, for he immediately disap- 
peared down a side street. The two Germans 
decided to follow the lad, and they, likewise, van- 
ished around the corner. 

Continuing to gaze at this same spot so full 
of interest to me, I noticed Pauline walking 
toward two men. Upon closely scrutinizing the 
latter, I was impressed with the idea that I had 
seen these two men before. To make matters sure, 
I descended to the front entrance of house No. 
149. I arrived there just in time to see little 
Pauline talking to two of the English Tommies 
whom we had hidden that morning in our 
"clinique," and who had just come into the street 
from the vacant house next door to us. Walking 
very slowly up to them in her simple childlike 
way, she disappeared with them from my view. 
I was somewhat anxious at this, for the direction 
which she had taken was sure to lead to the two 
German inspectors, and I feared lest they all 
three would be caught. The mere thought of this 
terrified me. 

I re-entered the ''clinique." The two Germans 
inside were engaged in close conversation. After 
a few moments one of them went away. The 
remaining one began to make preparations to com- 
fortably install himself in the front room of No. 



io6 WITH EDITH CAVELL JN BELGIUM' 

147. He took a newspaper from his pocket and 
seemed, to all appearances, to be making himself 
at home. 

In the meantime, we nurses had sufficiently re- 
covered from our commotion to be able to pre- 
pare some food for Madame and ourselves. 

Among the maids, I noticed Leonie, still trem- 
bling with fear and looking much paler than the 
others. She was most pitiable to behold. But I 
had no time then to pay much attention to her. 
I joined Sister Wilkins, who had sufficiently re- 
covered, and we all went together to see Madame. 
We found Jier in her bedroom, also looking pale, 
but unchanged; she bade us see to everything, as 
usual, and to go and take our tea at five o'clock. 
When we saw her, calmly seated there, so small 
and frail, so peacefully quiet in her great trials, 
we almost felt as if we could fall down and wor- 
ship her ! But, alas ! It seemed as though there 
was a gulf between us, so impressed were we by 
her stoic English nature ; and we dared not remain 
with her in that bare miserable room. We felt 
so awed at her presence that we even dared not 
tell her what had become of our Englishmen. 
Perhaps Pauline or someone else had told her of 
them, or, maybe, at that moment, she did not 



SUSPECTED 107 

fully realize with what great danger these men 
were menaced. 

We returned to our dining room, and partook 
of a little food. We were glad when in a few 
minutes we saw Madame come down to us. She 
went to the kitchen and the laundry. She man- 
aged to tranquilize the minds of the servants and 
she also talked with us for a while, thanking us 
for having so faithfully helped her throughout 
these troublesome times. In a short time, order 
was re-established in our home in spite of the 
presence of that terrible German inspector in the 
front room of No. 147. 

Madame, eventually, came to one of our rooms 
where she could better give directions to Miss 
Wilkins, as to what was best for us to do. "You 
must not show yourselves on the street," she said, 
*'but must remain indoors as much as possible. 
The German inspectors," she added, "might pos- 
sibly go away in the night time." Such was her 
conversation with us ; it renewed our courage and 
stirred us to perform our various duties. 

Shortly after six o'clock, little Pauline came 
back laughing and cheerful. Her happy mood 
seemed to be catching. I was nearly feeling quite 
like my old self again, when I, together with the 
other nurses, came to see her and to hear what 



io8 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

she had to say. But so clever was the sly little 
English girl, that she did not betray her doings, 
nor even laugh at us for our idle curiosity. She 
merely turned her back upon us, and went on 
eating a thin slice of bread as though nothing 
had happened. That evening when I learned that 
Jose was back in his own home with his family, 
I went to the kitchen to find out what I could 
concerning Pauline. It turned out, as I was cer- 
tain it would, that the latter had helped the two 
Englishmen to a place of safety in the house of 
an humble Belgian watchmaker, who lived in the 
Rue de Miroir, in Brussels. This man had ac- 
cepted the poor fellows, and had concealed them 
in his own home. 

How had this high natured little girl found out 
about this individual ? Who told her that he was 
willing to help her ? This was more than we could 
tell. It only went to show what a shrewd little 
woman she was ! 

She was also full of fun and playful mischief, 
and she did not lack it on this occasion. Here is 
an instance of it which she did not relate herself, 
but which we learned later. Every time she had 
to pass the room in which the solitary German 
was comfortably installed, an event that oc- 
curred at least some twenty times a day, she 



SUSPECTED 109 

never said a word to him, but she also never failed 
to stick out her tongue at him. The burly Teuton 
would only look at her in return, with the air of 
a man that frowns at a naughty child. 

When the evening of that wearisome and 
nerve-trying day at length came, we were all of 
us glad to retire to our bed-rooms. We stood in 
great need of rest. In spite of the presence of 
that German inspector, who still continued to sit, 
all alone, in that front room, we were again be- 
ginning to feel more at ease. 

Nevertheless, we decided among ourselves that 
it would be prudent to have Mania Waschausky, 
the night-nurse, keep watch over the front door 
of No. 149. She could easily do this, as I had 
done before, from the attic window; and if she 
happened to set eyes on some of our fugitive 
soldiers who might be returning home, she could 
try, by way of Number 143, to get them into the 
house unobserved. 

So seventeen-year-old, little, black-eyed Mania, 
with her beautiful Russian face, made herself 
ready to keep a good lookout upon the different 
entrances of our ''clinique." Madame had also 
gone to her bed-room, and was perhaps at that 
moment offering up prayers for the safety of 



no WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

those hungry and homeless Englishmen who were 
wandering about the streets of Brussels. 

The wind was from the west, and we could 
distinctly hear, from a hundred to a hundred and 
sixty kilometers away, the monotonous sounds of 
continuous cannonading, and even see the blood- 
red glare of the artillery fire that illumined the 
whole sky of the western frontier, where our 
brave fathers and brothers were nobly giving up 
their lives for those whom they had been forced 
to leave behind. What with the noise, and the 
day's excitement, my nerves were so irritated that 
I was unable to get a wink of sleep. I really 
think that none of us were able that night to do 
much sleeping, with the horrid fact tormenting 
their minds that a burly German was keeping 
watch in our midst. 

I decided to go up with Paula Van Bockstaele 
and observe the enemy's quarters, so we glided 
noiselessly to the room in Number 147 and lis- 
tened. What a sense of great relief we experi- 
enced when we heard the stillness of the place 
broken by the deep snoring of the German guard. 

Paula, the sweet- faced little Belgian girl, went 
to the door of No. 143 to watch the German there, 
while Mania and I were both vigilantly leaning 
out of an attic window. This was rather hard 



SUSPECTED III 

work for us, and the awkward position nearly 
wrenched our bodies out of shape. But we dared 
not retire, for we instinctively felt that something 
would happen. It was now about midnight, and 
we had been for some time in this painfully un- 
comfortable posture, when we were repaid for 
our trouble by a glimpse of three shadowy forms 
making towards our *'clinique." We at once 
recognized them as being three of our men. The 
thought instantly struck us that they would be- 
tray their presence by ringing the door bell! 
How were we to prevent this from happening? 
It did not take a second for Mania hastily to 
abandon her observation post, run as noiselessly 
as possible to the basement of No. 143, open the 
front door, and wave her handkerchief for the 
men to approach. When they drew near, she 
gravely pointed to their shoes, without uttering 
a single word. They took the hint, and quickly 
and noiselessly removed their foot-gear, and fol- 
lowed her into house No. 143. The poor fellows 
looked like emaciated ghosts, so terrible had been 
their sufferings since the afternoon they left us. 
Paula Van Bockstaele and I were trying to con- 
ceal the men as noiselessly as possible, in a large 
wardrobe in which we used to keep operating- 
room linen. Mania had, in the interval, disap- 



112 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

peared and was now watching the German in No. 
147. I went to Madame's room, to notify her 
about what had occurred and to ask what was to 
be done with the poor Tommies. Paula was 
busying herself in the kitchen, like the good girl 
she was, preparing food for them. 

When I reached her room, Madame was kneel- 
ing before her bed, engaged in prayer. Upon 
seeing me, she quickly arose, and listened to my 
story. Suddenly interrupting me before I had 
time to finish it, she requested me to help her 
get out of the house to conduct the men to Mon- 
sieur Bancq. Dressed in her blue uniform, which 
consisted of a little blue coat, a blue dress and a 
hat of the same color, she was soon ready to enter 
upon this new and perilous undertaking. 

Silently I accompanied her on tip-toe through 
the basement, and let her out into the street, where, 
on the corner, she awaited the arrival of the men. 
Mania and I then led them to the door, where 
in eloquent dumb-show we pointed out Madame's 
dim figure in the darkness. The sight of her 
was enough for them, and they confidently fol- 
lowed her, just as so many others had done before, 
and they quickly vanished in the sombre night. 

Now that we were certain that the men were 
safely out of the house, our thoughts reverted to 



SUSPECTED 113 

the German on guard. We now became suddenly 
very much afraid of him, and none of us dared 
to go to that room. We wasted a whole hour 
before we could summon up courage to do so. 
Our little Mania was the first one to show her 
bravery, and she suddenly resolved to go there 
all alone. After a few minutes, she returned to 
tell us that the inspector was still there, but that 
he was, now, wide awake, and moreover he was 
very hungry. 

I had not even seen the man, not daring to show 
myself, because I knew that he was aware of the 
fact that no one but Mania, the night nurse, had 
a right to be up and on duty. We could not tell 
whether he was asleep or not, during all these 
occurrences. Who could tell what he was up to^ 
or what his thoughts were? Perhaps, his only 
thought upon seeing Mania's pretty, smiling face, 
was of his own wife and children in his Father- 
land! 

At six o'clock in the morning Madame entered 
exhausted. She looked haggard and pale, while 
she told us that she had walked all the way, a dis- 
tance of six miles, to and from Monsieur Bancq's 
house. She appeared so weak that it made Sister 
Wilkins cry to see her. We helped her to her 
room and put her to bed. We then gave her some 



114 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

coffee which seemed to restore her a Uttle. She 
could scarcely speak. She could only make signs 
of yes and no with her head. She was cheerful, 
however, and oh ! the happiness that shone in her 
eyes — and from her inmost soul ! It plainly told 
us that she had again helped to save some unfor- 
tunate men from falling into the hands of their 
enemies, and felt fully repaid for all her trouble ! 

The German downstairs had seen Miss Cavell 
come in. Thank God that he did not ask us any 
questions. At seven o'clock he left the house. 
We were no further disturbed that day and we 
began to breathe freely once more. 

But unfortunately this happy state was not to 
last long, for menacing clouds were lowering over 
us. The invisible but subtle web of surveillance 
was slowly but surely drawing its cruel meshes 
around our former peaceful home. 

Such was the strain on our nerves at this 
period that the least thing was enough to frighten 
us. When Madame entered the room to tell us 
of her intention to visit the New Clinique, we 
all weepingly begged her to remain with us. We 
were afraid to be left alone. Even Jack, the dog, 
kept up a continual moaning, and Pauline, too, 
appeared frightened. We all of us felt down- 
hearted ; the maids and the cook sat pale and for- 



SUSPECTED 115 

lorn in a corner of the kitchen, and Jose himself 
was so sad at what was happening that he actu- 
ally forgot to smoke his customary cigar. 

It is impossible for me to describe how startled 
we became at the least little event. We nearly 
collapsed when the baker came in the morning. 
Whenever Pauline heard the door bell ring, she 
would become so nervous that she could scarcely 
move her lips to answer the caller. We were all 
of us in terrible dread of another descent of in- 
spectors upon our dwelling. By this time, too, 
the whole neighborhood had got wind of the 
German inspectors' visit, and it was all the talk 
at the Grocer's store. It seemed to us that the 
neighbors were all pointing their fingers at us, 
behind our backs. We were so timid at this 
thought that when we went to the new clinique 
to take, beforehand, some of the instruments 
necessary for the operating room, we ran like 
little children who are afraid to be alone in the 
road, as fast as our feet could carry us. 

After a few days, however, we began to regain 
somewhat our former calmness. It seemed, again, 
as though we were being forgotten by the Ger- 
mans, and we immediately began to make hopeful 
plans for the future. We set to work strenuously 
to clean and pack a thousand little things for our 



fi. /*. 7U 


^ LcZA^^*-''-x.-/i--x? 


^^^-^ 


/f^^l-^/- V 



Il6 



Nurse Van Til 

3 slices of bread 

E. Cavell. 
I2th of July, 1915. 



117 



ii8 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

new home. Jose had already begun to paint the 
chairs and wardrobes. As Madame's means did 
not allow of her renting a moving van, we were 
all of us required to aid in the moving. 

We began the work on July 12th, and each 
day we did as much of it as we were able to do. 
This was no easy task, I can assure you, for we 
had to carry many of the pieces of furniture by 
hand, or in a small hand cart. 

On the fifteenth, Madame, in person, went with 
some of us to point out where our future sleeping 
rooms were located. She designated room No. 
26 for me, and I shall never forget, upon receiv- 
ing it, the impression made upon me by the fact 
that I had now to take care of it myself, learn 
how to make my own bed neatly, and keep the 
place tidy and free from dust. This in our old 
clinique had been done by the servants. 

The moving of our furniture to the New 
Buildings progressed very slowly. It took us 
more than four weeks to accomplish it. Some 
of the nurses had previously entered into the new 
place and had made it their sleeping quarters; 
while Sister Wilkins, Madame, I and some others, 
still remained in our old home. 

On the 29th of July, Mr. Quin came back 
and asked to see Madame. We were every one of 



SUSPECTED 119 

us in a tremble, for we thought it was dangerous 
for him to remain. We warned him that the 
house was under suspicion of the Germans. He 
assured us that he had no other place to go to. 
At sight of him, Leonie, the maid, nearly ran into 
his arms, while Jose's face fairly beamed with joy 
to see him. Madame also seemed very glad to 
see him again, and she promised to give him a 
room for that night. 

The very next morning, Mr. Quin left us as 
suddenly as he had come, accompanied, as usual, 
by Madame, Jose and Jack. The separation 
appeared to me to be rather hard for him to bear, 
for he wept like a woman. We thought, by his 
actions, that he was afraid to go to the war, but 
I found out later why he melted into tears. 
It served as a veil for his eyes, to prevent him 
from seeing the noble woman who, drop by drop, 
was giving up her life's blood to pay for this man's 
love of ease and pleasure. 

On the fourth of August, Madame received the 
visit of three men who said they were English; 
but she refused to receive them. She gave as an 
excuse that we were moving out. She gave them 
a card with Mr. Severin's address upon it. Alas ! 
Poor Mr. Severin, the Brussels pharmacist ! Poor 



120 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

Mr. Bancq! and poor Madame! Little did we 
think what was in store for them ! 

That same afternoon, we had another visit; 
this time, it was that of a German officer, who 
wished to talk to Madame. We nurses were much 
stirred up by this visit. We actually shivered so 
much with fright that we must have quite betrayed 
ourselves to him. We all lost our heads, and like 
little children, we burst out crying. Even Sister 
Wilkins could not remain quiet. Although Pau- 
line told us that the man spoke very politely to 
Madame, yet we could no longer have confidence 
in any German. After a while the officer came 
out of her office, and took his leave with a polite 
salutation. Miss Cavell then came out seeming 
as calm as usual. We ran toward her, to learn 
something about the visit; but we could gather 
nothing from her sealed lips. 

Some hours later, however, Sister Wilkins 
found Madame suffering from a terrible heart 
attack. It appeared that she had been subject to 
such attacks for quite a long time, but had always 
managed to keep it to herself. We did everything 
we could to help her, but unfortunately we were 
powerless to do much ! 

The next day she seemed a little better, and she 
informed us that the German officer had asked 



SUSPECTED 121 

her if she had received any letters from the Lon- 
don war-office. He had looked over all her books, 
and found that the accounts had been neglected 
for three months back. He sardonically remarked 
that she must have had much to do to be thus 
prevented from keeping a good record of her 
money matters, showing thereby how crafty and 
knowing these Germans were, and how well aware 
they were of our doings; but cat-like, they en- 
joyed breaking their knowledge slowly to us, to 
worry us a bit, before finally pouncing down upon 
us. We became greatly alarmed when Madame 
told us that we must try to keep clear headed and 
cool, so as to help her as much as possible. 



CHAPTER VI 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 



On the 6th of August, we all of us were very 
much occupied with moving. We now had a little 
wagon with which to transport our furniture, and 
Jose and the maids were hard at work pulling the 
vehicle by main force to the new abode. 

We nurses had also been very busy that after- 
noon, but were just engaged in talking matters 
over, when we were suddenly interrupted by the 
entrance of three men. They wore no uniforms, 
and we at first thought that they only wanted to 
examine some pieces of furniture which Madame 
desired to sell. But another glance at them was 
sufficient to show us that we were greatly mis- 
taken. The expression on their faces was exult- 
ingly gleeful. They laughed and talked together 
in German, pointing the while at Sister Wilkins 
and Mania. I inferred from this that we were 
now fallen into the merciless hands of the Boches, 
who were gloating over the fact that we had 
finally been caught in their net. 

122 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 123 

They commanded us not to move, and pointing 
their revolvers at our heads, they roughly pushed 
us into a corner of the room. We now fully 
realized that we were prisoners. 

At this juncture, we heard a low sobbing in 
the hallway; it was from little Pauline, who, 
seated upon the stairs in front of Madame's 
office, was weeping enough to break her little 
heart. Besides myself and Miss Wilkins, there 
were five nurses in all there. Their names were 
as follows : Sister Wilkins, Miss Waschausky, 
Miss Van Bockstaele, Helen Wegels, Fernande 
Weil. Sister Wilkins tried to escape, but one 
of the men led her to another room where she 
began to scream loudly and wanted to see 
Madame. We could give no aid, and were afraid 
to move from the spot. The suspense was ter- 
rible, the awful moments seemed to drag so slowly 
by. Suddenly we heard the sound of several 
voices, the door burst open, and the figure of 
Madame issued, or rather was roughly pushed 
through the doorway into the room where we 
were, in the direction of the front door. Miss 
Cavell noticed us as she passed, and, pausing for 
an instant, made us see that she still had us in her 
heart. In spite of that hour of misery, she yet 
had time to think of what she could do to aid 



124 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

and encourage her nurses. In a calm and tender 
voice she said, ''Don't be so sad, my children. 
Everything will be all right. Fll be back soon; 
be good and wise." 

The German in charge of her put her into an 
automobile that was stationed before the door. 
The other men took Miss Wilkins and placed her 
in another automobile. All these events took 
place so rapidly that we scarcely realized what 
was happening. Poor Jack was howling discon- 
solately all the while, and some maids ran out of 
the house, but they were met by some other Ger- 
mans who brought them back at the point of the 
revolver. 

Things were in a terrible state now, in our 
"clinique." We could still see in imagination 
Madame's calm face, so deep was its impression 
engraved upon our memories. We began to count 
the minutes for her return. 'Would she come 
back soon?" we asked ourselves. We were all 
huddled together like prisoners and were not 
allowed to move from the spot. For five long 
hours we were thus detained, sobbing and moan- 
ing all the while. 

It was four o'clock when Madame and Sister 
Wilkins were so suddenly taken away. At nine 
o'clock the latter returned alone. We were all 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 125 

of us eager to find out what had happened to 
Madame, but the poor sister was so terribly 
nervous that she fell to the floor in a fit of hys- 
teria, screaming so loudly that some of the neigh- 
bors came over to look in at the windows to see 
what was the matter. Jack was continuously 
hovering around Miss Wilkins. Perhaps he 
realized what was being done to his beloved mis- 
tress. 

One of the Germans at this instant announced 
to us that Miss Cavell was detained at the Com- 
mandantur. We were all very familiar with that 
name ; it did not sound so terrible to us then, the 
Commandantur, or German Headquarters, and 
the edifice in which it was established belonged to 
the Belgian Administration, the members of which 
were at that time either in England or in France. 
These buildings were not very large, and were 
situated in the Rue de la Loi, opposite King 
Leopold's Park. 

Prisoners were not kept for a long time in 
this place, as there was not room enough in it 
for them. After a fortnight's detention they 
were sent home, or to some other headquarters 
in Laeken. The treatment there was much better 
than in any other prison. Hence, when we heard 
that Madame was at the Commandantur, we felt 



126 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

somewhat reassured about her. When Miss Wil- 
kins was able to talk to us, she told us that 
Madame seemed to be well treated by the officials 
there, and that, in all probability, she would be 
back with us the next morning or in the after- 
noon. 

The Germans had, in the meantime, decided as 
to what they were going to do with us. They did 
not keep us shut up in our rooms, but allowed us 
to move freely about in our four houses. The 
only restriction we were under was that of having 
to ask permission whenever we wished to go out- 
doors. When this was granted we were invariably 
accompanied by a German functionary, who 
always kept close behind us. As one's existence 
constantly maintains its course even in sorrow, 
ours was no exception to the rule, and we were 
obliged to go about our every day work as regu- 
larly as ever. We generally performed most of 
our work in the morning, without any hindrance. 

The next day our horrible nightmare recom- 
menced, for we heard that Monsieur Bancq had 
been arrested at the same time as Miss Cavell, 
and that he had been sent to the St. Gilles Prison. 
We could not help thinking of his wife and chil- 
dren. How helpless they would now be without 
his protection in these troublesome times ! 




Two Views of Cellar in which Miss Cavell Was 
Imprisoned 




Prison Showing Door by which Miss Cavell Left 
ON THE Way to Execution 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 127 

Yet we could not give much thought to them, 
because Madame was ever present in our minds, 
to such an extent that some of the nurses seemed 
still to hear the sound of her voice in the now 
vacant office. The morning slipped slowly by, 
and still we had no news of our dear Matron. 

That afternoon a new proclamation was posted 
on the city walls, stating that it had been forbidden 
for any one, man or woman, to aid or hide men 
of English or French Nationality in their homes 
under penalty of death. One of these hideous 
placards was placed immediately opposite our new 
Clinique. This was the first time we had seen it 
there, and how horrible seemed to us the purport 
of its words ! Yet, even now we did not fully 
realize its fatal meaning, nor how closely it con- 
cerned us, as well as our dear mistress, the sound 
of whose footsteps we every moment imagined 
we could distinctly hear, and whose familiar form, 
attired in its blue uniform, we expectantly looked 
to see enter her office. 

On the second day of Madame's imprisonment. 
Miss Wilkins received a post card from the Ger- 
man Commandantur asking for some clothes and 
linen for our mistress. Sister Wilkins prepared 
everything that was necessary, and delivered it 
herself at the Commandantur. She remained 



128 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

away for some time, and when she returned she 
seemed broken hearted. She had not been al- 
lowed, she told us, even to see Madame, and 
moreover the German officers had treated her very 
rudely. 

Several of us went there to see her also; but 
we all came back feeling very much disappointed. 
We, too, were not merely forbidden to see our 
dear mistress, but the German soldiers actually 
laughed at us when we mentioned her name. 

On the following day we learned that the Prin- 
cess de Croy, the Countess de Belleville, Mademoi- 
selle Thuilliez and several other members of that 
organization had all been made prisoners. We 
began to feel more and more anxious about our- 
selves, and being without a directing mind to help 
us, we became mere shadows of our former selves. 
We waited in vain for four days, but nothing 
came to enlighten us as to the fate of our dear 
mistress, and we felt as though we were engulfed 
in darkness. 

Our housekeeping was beginning to be greatly 
neglected, many pieces of our furniture were 
stolen. The maids went out whenever they could, 
and Sister Wilkins was too sick to be able prop- 
erly to take charge of sending out the furniture. 
Jose seemed very unhappy, and faithful old 



im 



^<> 




^r^fi^^lii. s-ue, T- 



129 



130 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

Jack would be lying the whole day long in front 
of his absent mistress's door. 

The Germans were constantly in and around 
our new clinique, and when the day finally came 
for us to permanently enter the building, they de- 
liberately accompanied us there, so suspicious were 
they of our movements. 

Those were terrible days for us; God alone 
knows how terrible! It seemed to us, utterly in 
the darkness as we were, that everything was 
going wrong, while we were all alone without the 
good hand of our thoughtful mistress to come to 
our aid ! 

On the loth of August we learned from one 
of the members of the clinique that Miss Cavell 
had been on the 8th of the month transferred to 
the St. Gilles Prison in Brussels. We could 
scarcely believe it. The mere word ''Prison" was 
in itself so terrible to us; and it made us feel 
that something horrible had occurred to her. We 
wrote her several times, little nurses' notes, full of 
tenderness, — of innocent words, the outpourings 
of humble hearts. We counted our money ; it was 
little enough, a few silver coins, and one or two 
copper sous. We bought flowers with it; some 
roses and a bunch of white chrysanthemums — her 
favorite flowers! How carefully we selected 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 131 

them! Each nurse reverently touched each rose 
that was to be given to her. We sent them to our 
mistress, but, alas ! we got no answer. We waited 
and waited for many days, but never a word did 
we get. 

We knew from Dr. Le Boeuf, who had brought 
some patients to the new clinique, that Mr. Sadie 
Kirschen, a Belgian lawyer, was allowed to see 
her in her cell, and to take charge of her case. 

In these sad and weary days, when a new 
housekeeper had been accepted by the committee 
to look after us, we had only one friend in whom 
we could confide or from whom we could ask 
information. This person was a lawyer, too, by 
profession, and a member of the committee. His 
name was Mr. Van Alteren. He did everything 
he could to help us, but he was powerless to do 
much because he himself was held in suspicion by 
the Germans, and when we stood most in need of 
his aid, he also was taken away from us and sent 
to Prison. 

We waited during the entire month of August 
for news of Miss Cavell. None came. We began 
to feel weary. All interest in the clinique seemed 
to have died away. Everything appeared aban- 
doned and different from what it used to be. 
For instance, all the servants, together with Pau- 



132 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

line, had been discharged. The new housekeeper 
showed herself to be very strict. When we dared 
to ask her why Pauline was sent away, we were 
told that they only desired well educated atten- 
dants. 

How dark and hopeless those dreary days 
appeared to us! With the cannon everlastingly 
booming in the distance and the pangs of hunger 
gradually but surely making themselves more diffi- 
cult to bear, our sorrow and anxiety were all the 
more intensified by thoughts of our unfortunate 
Mistress in her prison cell. 

We roamed around her prison whenever we' 
could do so, to try to get news of her; but the 
Head Warden, a Mr. Marin, a Belgian, though 
he was an amiable and willing man, could do 
nothing to help us. We could only learn from his 
wife that the room occupied by Madame was No. 
23. Nothing further could we find out. 

September came, and still no news. Several 
nurses resigned, and new girls who had been 
accepted some months before by Edith Cavell, 
took their places; only a few of the nurses who 
had helped Madame in the Old Clinique now re- 
mained. Many changes had taken place in the 
New One, where the different papers were 
examined daily by several ladies of the committee, 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 133 

whom we scarcely knew. All these individuals 
seemed so different to us, and yet they were, for 
the most part, composed of the same members 
who were at the little clinique in the rue de la 
Culture when we received the fugitive soldiers. 

About September the 14th, Sister Wilkins, at 
last, got a letter from Miss Cavell. How can I 
describe the eagerness with which we all crowded 
around to listen to the reading of the precious 
epistle ! How its every word seemed to soothe and 
caress our ears ! 

It ran as follows : 

Prison of St. Gilles, 

Brussels. 
My dear Nurses:- 14th September, 1915. 

Your charming letter has given me much pleasure, 
and your beautiful flowers brought life and gay 
colors into my cell; the roses are still very fresh, 
but the chrysanthemums did not like prison Hfe; 
they are like me; they cannot resist a very long 
time. 

I am very happy to hear that you are attending 
to your work and that you are devoted to your 
patients and that the patients are satisfied. 

I hope you will continue with your studies, just 
as tho' I were there, because in a very short time 
you will have to undergo an examination and I 
would like to have you ready for it. 



134 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

The new term begins very soon; try to profit by 
your past experiences, always be prompt, because 
the doctors do not Hke to wait for their pupils. 

Everywhere in life we learn something new and 
if you were in my place you would soon realize 
how precious is liberty and how grateful we should 
be to have it. 

We must all learn patience. It is not enough to 
be a good nurse only, but you should also be Chris- 
tian women. 

It seems that the new clinique is very nicely 
arranged. I hope I will see it soon and all my 
nurses as well. 

Good-bye, be wise and good. 

Truly yours, 

Edith Cavell. 

This letter gave us a little hope and for the first 
time in all these sad days of our directrice's 
absence we summoned up the courage to play on 
the piano our national hymn, the ^'Brabangonne," 
and the English one of "God Save the King." 
But on the following day our ill-founded hopes 
again vanished. One of the members of the com- 
mittee, Mr. Heeger, a professor of the University 
of Brussels, who very often frequented the 
''Clinique," came in and expressed his opinion 
that Miss Cavell would be sent to Germany. Most 
of the members of the committee thought as he 



MISS CAVELL ARRESTED 135 

did. We could not believe this to be possible; 
but were still full of hope ; and at frequent inter- 
vals, during the long days of anxious waiting, we 
could be seen gathered together, talking about 
Madame, and persuading one another that she 
would soon be back with us. 

On the 2 1st of September, Mr. Heeger in- 
formed us that he had received another letter from 
Miss Cavell in which she seemed to be quite well 
and in high spirits. 

Letter from Miss Edith Cavell to Monsieur 
Heeger : — 

Saint Gilles Prison, Sept. 22, 191 5. 
Monsieur Heger, 

Miss Wilkins told me that you asked me to write 
to you; it is with pleasure that I respond to your 
request; unfortunately I have not yet been able 
to send any letters. 

I regretted deeply to have been forced to leave 
the school * at the time of our moving and to have 
left all my affairs in disorder. 

* Miss Cavell alluded here to the transfer of the school 
for nurses in the little clinique to the new buildings which 
it now occupies. 

Jficole Edith Cavell 

£cole Beige d' Infirmieres diplomees 
1914-1919 
From 
(Committee of Administration Report) 



136 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

I hope that now everything is well arranged and 
organized according to your desires. 

I shall be very happy to see you a little later on; 
there will be certain things to be arranged, and I 
should like to have the opportunity to speak with 
you . . . 

Please give my regards to all the members of the 
Committee, etc. . . . 

Edith Cavell. 

These little bits of information contributed to 
strengthen our belief that our dear Directrice, 
after a few months of detention, would certainly 
be released, as, from the perusal of the above letter 
we can infer that she herself thought she would be. 

On the 22nd of the same month, we heard, 
through Mr. Van Alteren, that Maitre Sadie 
Kirschen was no longer allowed to see her in 
prison. The German court had allotted her a new 
lawyer of their own nationality. This news made 
us feel very sad ; it looked terribly ominous to us. 
Nevertheless, we, and even the members of the 
committee, had still some hope left of her return. 
The latter had done all they could to endeavor to 
communicate with Madame ; but all in vain ! The 
German hearts remained as mercilessly closed to 
pity as did the huge prison doors that cruelly en- 
closed our dear suffering Directrice. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE EXECUTION 

About seven o'clock on the eleventh of October, 
while we were all sitting together in the school- 
room with most of our day's work done, we were 
talking as usual about Madame, and were still 
deluding ourselves with the hope of her speedy 
return. Just then, one of the nurses happened to 
look out of the window and recognized Mr. Van 
Alteren, who seemed to be plunged in a state of 
profound despondency. The nurse asked me if I 
knew why he appeared so worried. I could give 
no answer, however, but, impelled by I know not 
what, I arose and immediately ran to the front 
door, where the good gentleman was standing, 
with his broad shoulders bathed in a sea of golden 
sunshine that was striving against fate to make 
the grief-stricken clinique appear like a happy 
dreamland. There was something fatally tragic 
in the expression of Mr. Van Alteren's eyes, as 
I asked him, with a quick and nervous voice, if 

137 



138 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

he knew anything about Madame! He did not 
speak a word; but entered with me the small 
library that was near the entrance. 

Still, I could not realize that matters were any 
worse ; but, when, in a voice choking with sorrow, 
he said to me, 'Toor child! poor nurses!" I felt 
that the worst had come and that Madame was 
lost to us forever! 

With a voice dry with sorrow and emotion, I 
intuitively gasped, **When?" 'To-morrow at five 
o'clock," he answered. 

I do not recollect in what state of mind I re- 
turned to tmpart the news to the other nurses, 
but, alas! they were already informed of it. Dr. 
Heeger, who had that instant heard the horrible 
news from Maitre Sadie Kirschen, had immedi- 
ately told it to Sister Wilkins, who was wild with 
emotion at it, to such an extent that it was impos- 
sible for us to keep her in the house; she could 
not be tranquilized, but excitedly exclaimed that 
she wanted to go and save Miss Cavell. 

We felt too miserable to pay much attention to 
her then, for, in fact, we did not know how to 
act. We had to try hard to keep cool ourselves 
under this great affliction. Oh.! but they were 
sad and soul-wracking times! The memory of 



THE EXECUTION 139 

those agonizing days shall forever cling to the 
depths of my heart and soul ! 

Towards eight o'clock, however, we began to 
notice the absence of Sister Wilkins. She, being 
English and in a very excited state of mind, we 
were in fear that something serious had happened 
to her. We waited an hour for her, during which 
interval we thought over what we could do to 
save Madame. At nine o'clock Miss Van Bock- 
staele. Miss Buck, an English girl, Miss Was- 
chausky and I went to the Prison. We had been 
there many times before and the kind-hearted 
Belgian, Mr. Marin, Superintendent of the 
Prison, had done as much as he was able to do 
for us. This time, too, he promised to bid good- 
bye to Madame for us, if it could be done, but 
he could not vouch for it, as there were two Ger- 
man Wardens on duty before her cell. Upon 
asking Mr. Marin about Sister Wilkins, he said 
that he found her all upset and that she had 
fainted before the prison door. He had taken her 
to his wife's room, and, when she had awakened 
from the swoon, he had had her sent to the home 
of Reverend Father Graham, an English minis- 
ter who had attended Madame before she 
went to the prison. We went to this good man's 
home in one of the suburbs of Brussels, but he 



140 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

was at that moment in St. Gilles engaged in 
administering to the last spiritual wants of Miss 
Cavell. He had obtained this great favor from 
the German chaplain, who was a kind-hearted and 
charitable man. 

We gathered all these facts from Reverend 
Graham's housekeeper, and it was in his house 
that we also found our lost Sister Wilkins. 

We waited for about half an hour in that 
strange and dreary place. It was about ten 
o'clock when the Minister returned. He informed 
us that Madame, our dear mother Directrice, was 
prepared for the terrible ordeal of the morrow. 
We tried as hard as we possibly could to keep 
from bursting into tears before the noble-hearted 
father; we asked him what we could do to help 
Madame. He put on his hat and told us to ac- 
company him to the American Consulate, adding 
that perhaps the United States Consul might be 
able to do something. 

When we reached the American Consulate, we 
heard that Mr. Brand Whitlock was ill, but that 
Mr. Hugh Gibson was ready to receive us. We 
told that young and noble-minded gentleman our 
sad story, earnestly entreating him to help us. We 
certainly must have looked forlorn to him, in that 
large American room, with tears streaming down 



THE EXECUTION 141 

our cheeks. It must have moved him to pity, for 
he immediately volunteered to help us. He sent 
a hasty message to the Spanish minister, de Villa- 
lobar, and one also to the Dutch Ambassador, 
Maurice Van Hollenhover, for them to assist him 
in his endeavor to free Miss Cavell. The Dutch 
ambassador refused to enter the undertaking, but 
the Spanish Minister, de Villalobar, saddened at 
the fatal nev^s, came w^ith all possible haste to 
Mr. Gibson's help. These two gentlemen v^ent to- 
gether to General Von Bissing's headquarters. In 
the meantime, we anxiously awaited the result of 
their mission seated together in one end of the 
large room of the Consulate under the protection 
of the American Eagle that hung, with outspread 
wings, upon the wall. Our hopes began to rise 
again; but we were soon doomed to disappoint- 
ment, however, for when Mr. Gibson and the 
Spanish Ambassador returned we realized that 
they, too, were unable to gain any better results 
than we had done. The Reverend Dr. Graham 
imparted to us the futile results of their visit to 
Von Bissing. They found Von Bissing very 
polite, but he excused himself on the pretext that 
he was only Governor General of Belgium, and 
that he did not form part of, or exercise any in- 
fluence over, the War Council. Consequently he 



142 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

had no say in the affairs of Miss Cavell. Von 
Bissing phoned, however, to several other German 
officials for them to use their influence in saving 
Madame from execution; but all in vain! The 
latter functionaries did not dare to interfere with 
orders emanating from the German Headquarters 
of the War Council in Berlin. 

General Von Bissing then promised to give Mr. 
Hugh Gibson a letter of introduction to that most 
horrible of all men, Von Saubersweig, the most 
cruel soldier that ever existed. He was Governor 
of the German War Council in Belgium, and, 
under his iron rule, had condemned, daily, many 
an unfortunate person to death or to imprison- 
ment for life. 

Mr. Hugh Gibson and the Spanish Ambassador 
went to this monster's house; but he was absent. 
They had much difficulty in getting him ; but they 
finally discovered him in a vulgar bar-room where 
he was relaxing his ferocious mind by viewing 
entertainments of a low and immoral nature. His 
excellency took no pains to conceal his displeasure 
at being disturbed at his favorite amusements, 
and at having to be bored again with War Council 
business. He either found no time to listen to 
the suppliant voices of the noble gentlemen before 
him, or, most probably, he was laboring too much 



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Proclamation Announcing the Death of 
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THE EXECUTION 143 

under the influence of liquor to be softened by 
their pleadings ; for he immediately became angry, 
and lost all dignified control over himself. With 
a flushed face, and a rising voice, he actually 
screamed at them, that Miss Cavell would be led 
to execution at four o'clock the next day. 

I am ignorant of what further occurred then. 
Mr. Hugh Gibson has written a book about the 
judgment of Miss Cavell. It does not enter into 
the sphere of this humble narrative. 

When we heard what these men had to say, we 
felt that there was no further room left for hope ; 
we turned our sad and weary steps homeward 
through the dark shadows of that dreary night. 
It seemed as though we were dragging our un- 
willing feet over newly made graves. 

Upon reaching the clinique we found Miss Wil- 
kins in a state of nervous breakdown. We could 
hear her sad and grave voice praying in a dreary 
tone, and constantly repeating : ''Oh, God ! OH ! 
my Lord ! Please give my mistress back to me ! 
Please give my mistress back ! Take my life away 
if you will, but give her back to me" ; until, 
finally, her voice died away in a whisper, and 
she fell into a state of profound unconsciousness. 
Her blond hair was so changed that she seemed 



144 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

to have been suddenly transformed into an old 
woman. 

I cannot recollect what we did, Paula, Mania, 
I and the others, for we did nothing but sob and 
sob, until our hearts seemed as though they would 
break. 

Towards four o'clock on that fatal morning, 
we put on our hats and cloaks, and again wended 
our lonely way through the darkness to the prison. 
We rang the bell ; it struck our ears with a dismal 
sound that made our souls shiver with horror. 
When Mr. Marin, the superintendent, opened to 
us, we halted before the entrance, and exclaimed 
with voices choked with emotion, "Oh, give her 
to us ! God help us !" 

The poor, kind-hearted Mr. Marin had tears in 
his eyes. He tried to console us by saying that 
Madame was very brave. He learned this much 
from one of the German wardens, who was, it 
seemed, more truthful than the others. The 
Superintendent told us that if we waited a while 
we might possibly catch a glimpse of our beloved 
mistress, when the automobile would come out 
of the prison to take her to the "Tir National," or 
rifle range, where she was to be executed. 

At five o'clock in the morning, on October 
the 1 2th, of memorable date, two hideous war- 



THE EXECUTION 145 

cars issued grimly from the prison entrance. 
Anxiously and expectantly we gazed at them. *'In 
which one of these horrid vehicles was Madame?" 
**In which one was she?" — It seemed to me that I 
caught sight of her blue uniform. Was it merely 
imagination, or was it really she ? — Who knows ? 

That was all we saw ! The stillness of the city 
houses seemed to come to our aid. We could only 
cry out with one voice, "Madame ! Madame !" as 
the horrid death-cars rapidly vanished from our 
tearful eyes. 

Without looking any further we mournfully 
turned our steps towards the New Clinique. 
Upon reaching it, we saw the bright morning sun 
just pouring its golden beams over a portrait of 
our Madame, surrounded by us nurses. The sight 
of this picture, crowned as it was with a glorious 
light, made us keenly feel the sad loss of our 
martyred Mistress, so suddenly taken away from 
us. We were racked with sorrow at the thought 
that we should never see Madame again. I could 
not bear to remain indoors, but went out brooding 
over her unfortunate fate, thinking only of the 
cruel German rifles that had ruthlessly murdered 
her; that the good and kind-hearted woman, 
whose portrait we just saw, was now lying cold in 



146 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

death, on the forgotten rifle ranges of the ''Tir 
National !" 

A few hours later on that fatal day of October 
1 2th, we received a final shock, that greatly in- 
creased our sorrow and impressed us with the 
certitude of our irrecoverable loss. Our eyes were 
assailed by the most pitiless proclamation that we 
had yet seen, placarded on the walls of Brussels. 
It read as follows : 

Translation of Proclamation ; 
Proclamation: 

The Tribunal of the Imperial War Council 

of Germany 

Held in Brussels 

Has pronounced the following sentences; 

The following persons are condemned to the pen- 
alty of Death for treason in organized bands: 

Edith Cavell, a Teacher of Brussels 
Philippe Bancq, an Architect of Brussels 
Jeanne de Belleville, of Montignies 
Louis Thuilliez, a Teacher of Lille 
Louis Severin, Pharmacist of Brussels 
Albert Libiez, a lawyer of Mons. 

For the same motive the following have been 
condemned to fifteen years' hard labor; 



THE EXECUTION 147 

Herman Capiau, a Civil Engineer of Wasmes 

Ada Bodart, of Brussels 

George Derveau, a pharmacist of Paturages 

Mary deCroy of Bellignies. 

At the same sessions, the War Council has pro- 
nounced against seventeen others accused of treason 
towards the Imperial Armies, sentences of hard- 
labor, and imprisonment. 

As far as concerns Bancq and Edith Cavell, 
judgment has already been fully executed. 

The Governor General of Brussels places these 
facts before the public as a solemn warning to them. 

Governor of the City 
General Von Bissing. 

Brussels, the 12th Oct., 1915. 

TO THE INHABITANTS OF BRUSSELS : 

The above is the Proclamation of the Governor 
Von Bissing, announcing the condemnation to death 
and the execution of Miss Cavell and of the Archi- 
tect Bancq, which was placarded on the walls of 
Brussels in the forenoon of the 12th of October, 
1915. 

(Exact translation from the facsimile in French.) 
From an article entitled 'The Last Days of Edith 
Cavell." 

It is my duty, here, to make some mention of 
Monsieur Bancq, whose heroic figure merely 



148 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

served as a protest, by having him share the same 
fate as the great EngUsh Martyred Nurse. The 
only accusation that the Germans could bring 
against him was that he had printed some articles 
in 'Ta Libre Belgique." But I think he had never 
sheltered a single Englishman in his own home. 
The brave but unfortunate man left a wife and 
two children, without any money to help them live 
during those hard and trying times. 

A few days after the execution, Mr. Heeger 
received from the prison a bundle of clothes which 
had belonged to our regretted mistress. In it 
were found her blue jacket, one of the pockets of 
which contained two sheets of paper. One of 
them was her last letter to her nurses, and the 
other consisted of notes and reminiscences of her 
several trials. In the same package was found the 
small sum of fifty francs. This humble amount 
was all that she had left, after a life heroically 
spent in servitude and hardships, in trials and in 
dangers, a life courageously devoted to the relief 
of the sick and the care of the dying. 

The following is a translation of the last letter 
oFTVIiss Cavell to her nurses, the original letter 
being in the possession of "The Edith Cavell 
Clinique," in Brussels. 



THE EXECUTION 149 

St. Gilles Prison. 
My Dear Nurses : — 

This is a very sad moment for me, to write you 
my last Goodbye. It makes me think of the 17th 
of September which had closed my eight years as 
the Directrice of our little cHnique. I was so happy 
to be called to help in the work our Committee 
started. 

The first of October 1907, we had only four 
young pupils, now there are many; I believe fifty 
or sixty counting the trained nurses and the nurses 
who have left the clinique. I have told you very 
often of the early days ; of the difficulties we all had 
in arranging for your hours of duty, your hours 
of rest. Everything was new when this work was 
started in Belgium. 

But in a very short time things adjusted them- 
selves. We secured some trained nurses for pri- 
vate cases, some school nurses to work in the public 
schools of Brussels, the St. Gilles Hospital, the 
clinique of Dr. DePage, the Sanitarium for the 
treatment of Tuberculosis in Buysinghen, the 
clinique of Dr. Mayer and now many nurses will 
be called to nurse the wounded soldiers on the battle- 
fields. 

When, this last year, our task seemed to diminish, 
we can find the reason for it in the sad times in 
which we lived, but, later in our happier days, our 
work will grow faster in its mighty power. 



150 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

When I talk to you of the past, it means that it 
is necessary sometimes to look back to the resolu- 
tions we took, and our past experiences should guide 
us in correcting future errors, that our progress 
might be greater. In your new clinique building 
you will have many more patients and you will find 
there I am sure, everything necessary for their com- 
fort as well as for your own also. 

It makes me very sad to think that I had not 
always more time to devote to each of you alone. 
You all know that I had many occupations, but I 
hope you will not forget the little talks we had each 
evening. I told you that voluntary sacrifices would 
make you happy; that your idea of duty before God 
and yourself will give you greater support in the 
sad moments of life and in the face of death. 

There are perhaps two or three nurses who re- 
member quite well the little conversations we had 
together. These nurses should not forget this; 
having had greater experience, I could see many 
things clearer and I felt it my duty to show them 
the right way, 

A little word yet — mistrust evil speaking; may I 
not say this to you? — because I loved my country 
with my whole heart — I am here. I have seen, in the 
past eight years and now also, many mistakes which 
could have been avoided. Here and there, very 
often, a whispered word, even though uttered with- 
out bad intention, has many times ruined the good 



THE EXECUTION 151 

name, the reputation and even the Hfe of somebody. 

It is therefore necessary for my nurses to think 
well before speaking and that you shall cultivate 
in your life, more loyalty and a holy spirit. 

If there is one nurse who has a grievance against 
me, I beg that she will forgive me. I know that 
sometimes I have been harsh — too harsh — but never 
have I been voluntarily unjust and I loved all of 
you, more than you will ever know. 

My fondest wishes for all of you, my young 
nurses, the nurses who have left the school as well 
as the nurses who are still there, and I thank you 
all very much for the kindness, gentleness and 
courtesy which you have so often shown me. 
Truly yours, 

Your devoted Directrice, 
Edith Cavell. 
loth October, 1915. 

After Madame had departed forever from our 
midst, only a few nurses that had been with her 
in the old place now remained in the New Clinique. 
We would gather together each evening with our 
minds constantly drawn towards the Northern 
section of the town, where the fatal "Tir Na- 
tional," with its mournful surroundings, was 
located. We could see, in imagination, that lonely 
grave behind the target-numbers of the rifle-range 
where in winter the icy northern wind would blow, 



152 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

and the scorching sun beat mercilessly down in 
summer. . . . 

In these never-to-be-forgotten times of rugged 
war and privation we five girls remained stead- 
fastly at the New Clinique, of which our dear 
Madame had laid the first stone and for the com- 
pletion of which she had so ardently worked. . . . 



AFTER-WORD 

In November, 191 8, some days after the Armi- 
stice had been signed, the senior nurses of Edith 
Cavell were called together in one of the parlors 
of the new building, where three French Officers 
were occupied writing. Without any warning, 
they thrust two portraits before our startled 
eyes. They were the photographs of Gaston 
Quin, and the German who three years before 
had been hidden in the old clinique, and known 
to us as Mr. X, an Englishman. 

We knew Quin at a glance, although his hair 
had been shorn and he was dressed in prison garb. 

These government officials had come to us for 
information regarding Quin's doings while with 
us. 

We were so utterly confounded at what we saw, 
and we spoke so mildly among ourselves about 
him, that the detectives were greatly puzzled at 
our attitude towards Quin. We burst into tears 
at the thought that this man who had appeared 
so innocently to help us, was the real author of all 
153 



154 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

our misfortune. He it was who had helped to be- 
tray Madame, and had brought trouble and 
sadness into our young, happy lives ! 

I cannot well describe what followed this sad 
and sudden interview with the French law-officers. 
The story of Quin has been in the newspapers all 
over the world. As to Quin's ignoble friend, the 
German whom we called Mr. X, he is far away, 
probably dead — or murdered perhaps ! 

In December, 1918, a small group of nurses 
conducted by some French officers went for the 
first time to view the humble grave of Miss Cavell. 
We saw the place of her execution; the wooden 
fence where Monsieur Bancq awaited his turn to 
die. 

We were struck by the forlorn aspect of the 
sinister spot, the bleakness and loneliness of the 
surrounding landscape. There, immediately be- 
fore our eyes, in all its grim horror, stood the 
fatal stone where Madame's frail form had been 
supported upon a chair! On that chalky earth, 
and mud, and rubble which marked her grave, 
we reverently knelt together as on hallowed 
ground. . . . 

In March, 19 19, England claimed the body of 
the martyred Nurse. Madame's sister and her 
brother-in-law came to the Clinique to visit the 



AFTER-WORD 155 

place she had founded, which now bears her name. 
The King and Queen of the Belgians were present, 
together with many other notable persons. A 
solemn ceremony took place, during which a splen- 
did oil-painting of Miss Cavell was placed upon 
the class-room wall. It was an exact likeness of 
her as she appeared during the early years of our 
little school in the rue de la Culture. We nurses 
felt sad at the sight of it. Our heavy hearts car- 
ried in them the fond remembrance of this humble 
woman as she was, when she bravely risked her 
life and her health, mercifully conducting unfor- 
tunate soldiers to safety. . . . 

Those times are gone forever; our heroic Di- 
rectrice's young nurses are now scattered far and 
wide, some are dead, others are trying to forget 
those terrible days of hardships and of dread. . . . 

Little remains for me to add to this narrative. 
Pauline is a nurse in an English family in Bel- 
gium. Jose has disappeared. Gilles, our faithful 
guide, went through it all unscathed. He had 
joined the army after he left us. It was a pleasure 
to see his honest face, with its laughing blue eyes, 
radiant with joy at never having been caught by 
the Boches! Jack, the dog, was some time in 
Jose's house, but later, after Jose's departure, in 
the house of the Princess DeCroy in France. 



156 WITH EDITH CAVELL IN BELGIUM 

In 1920, while I was in Chicago, I read in the 
papers of the miserable death of Von Sauber- 
sweig. Had his mind been tormented by remorse 
at the thought of the noble victim, whom he had 
so brutally helped to put to death ? 

Jacqueline Van Til. 

White Plains, N. Y., April 20th, 1921. 



THE END 



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